Photo: autohome.cn
Testing cars in China is a bad idea. Not because they would be redundant but because, as you might very well know by now, trademarks and copyrights mean absolutely nothing over there. Therefore when one manufacturer is testing its new cars in the world’s most populous country, they should expect the unexpected. And by that, we mean revealing bits and pieces of their well hidden design without their approval.
It’s exactly what seemingly happened to the upcoming BMW X1 that had almost all of its front fascia revealed thanks to a curious photographer that had the audacity of removing the cover that hid it from prying eyes and took a quick snapshot of how the headlights look like. Now that we see it, it’s actually better than what we expected.
It looks as if BMW is planning to have all the cars that are using the UKL platform look the same in a variety of ways. We already knew that the interior would look like the one of the 2 Series Active Tourer and now we’re seeing that the headlights have a similar shape.
Of course, they’re not exactly identical but they do have a sculpted design that arches towards the back of the car cutting generously into the front fender.
On the bumper we can also spot the new air intakes and right between these two elements we can spot the foglight. The bonnet also looks a lot shorter than on the current model, mostly because of its new plants and FWD setup.
Sure, the reasoning that tightening CO2 emission laws are forcing the company to go this way has been used plenty of times but apart from that, there are other explanations why such a move was done.
First of all, the new plants all use 0.5-liter cylinders that has been declared by BMW to be the perfect size for fuel consumption, NVH and performance. On top of that, the new B-family allows the company to produce plants that can share up to 40% of their parts in between petrol and diesel mills.
The entry level engine will be the one used on the current MINI Hardtop 3-door, a 3-cylinder 1.5-liter turbocharged mill making 136 HP which should be enough for a car that is supposed to be lighter on its feet compared to its predecessor that uses most of its underpinnings from the E91 3 Series Touring model.
On the diesel front, the 2-liter mill used on the current xDrive18d X3 LCI model should be the cheapest version if BMW doesn’t decide to offer the 3-cylinder alternative found on the MINI Cooper D right now.
Prices should start around the $30,000 mark in the US and we could expect to see the final version in the metal at the Geneva Motor Show this Spring.
It looks as if BMW is planning to have all the cars that are using the UKL platform look the same in a variety of ways. We already knew that the interior would look like the one of the 2 Series Active Tourer and now we’re seeing that the headlights have a similar shape.
Of course, they’re not exactly identical but they do have a sculpted design that arches towards the back of the car cutting generously into the front fender.
On the bumper we can also spot the new air intakes and right between these two elements we can spot the foglight. The bonnet also looks a lot shorter than on the current model, mostly because of its new plants and FWD setup.
New engines and transmissions to be introduced
As we’ve been reporting for quite some time now, along with the new UKL platform will come the new family of engines that have been touted as the next logical step in BMW’s evolution.Sure, the reasoning that tightening CO2 emission laws are forcing the company to go this way has been used plenty of times but apart from that, there are other explanations why such a move was done.
First of all, the new plants all use 0.5-liter cylinders that has been declared by BMW to be the perfect size for fuel consumption, NVH and performance. On top of that, the new B-family allows the company to produce plants that can share up to 40% of their parts in between petrol and diesel mills.
The entry level engine will be the one used on the current MINI Hardtop 3-door, a 3-cylinder 1.5-liter turbocharged mill making 136 HP which should be enough for a car that is supposed to be lighter on its feet compared to its predecessor that uses most of its underpinnings from the E91 3 Series Touring model.
On the diesel front, the 2-liter mill used on the current xDrive18d X3 LCI model should be the cheapest version if BMW doesn’t decide to offer the 3-cylinder alternative found on the MINI Cooper D right now.
Prices should start around the $30,000 mark in the US and we could expect to see the final version in the metal at the Geneva Motor Show this Spring.
Google News