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BMW 1M Sedan Looks Too Fast for FWD, Resembles Baby M5

It started out as the rumor nobody wanted to believe, moved to prototyping, concept design and is now ready... to be hated. The first front-wheel drive car in BMW history has been unveiled in China, the 1 Series Sedan.
BMW 1M Sedan Looks Too Fast for FWD, Resembles Baby M5 1 photo
Photo: X-Tomi Design
It competes directly with the likes of Audi's A3 and Mercedes-Benz's posh CLA-Class. The underpinnings of the 1 Series sedan are about as common as people playing Pokemon Go - the UKL platform is shared with all MINIs and the two 2 Series minivans.

Some are crap, dynamically speaking, while others are decent. But if that proves anything, it's that BMW can do whatever it wants with the first modular front-wheel-drive underpinnings. The Mercedes B-Class is not exactly a drift machine, but it shares its basic bones with the A45 AMG.

Fresh rendering anybody? X-Tomi Design has changed a few things here and there and came up with an 1 Series M Sedan. We think it looks too cool for what it is and that it resembles a baby M5, much like the CLA is a baby CLS.

We are getting a little bit ahead of ourselves with the M1 sedan renderings since there is no way BMW will approve the development straight away. It could get an M Performance model and then, if the stars align and people like it, the proper #Mpower.

We've discussed the possibility of an M version of the X1 before. Some rumors suggest it would have a new longitudinal 6-cylinder turbo engine, while others say BMW will develop its first power-dense 2-liter that delivers a Golf R rivaling 300 horsepower.

The current range-topping mill for the 1er sedan is a 2-liter producing 231 PS and 350 Nm (258 lb-ft). It's shared with the 2 Series Active Tourer and JCW models, plus it matches the output of a Golf GTI.

We'd be happy with either one, but considering the 1 Series sedan's main job is attracting customers in China, plug-in hybrids are going to be the main priority, not power.

What do you call an M version of a FWD car?

Good question. It's got to be something good, but that doesn't annoy the hardcore fans. Remember, BMW called the predecessor of the M2 "1 Series M Coupe" just because the M1 moniker belonged to the most awesome car it had built to that point.

There are plenty of other letters in the alphabet, but BMW only likes to use M. It's where all the marketing money is at and thanks to it, diluted models like the M235i or X5 M50d make a lot of money... and people happy.
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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