BMW UKL1 to Surface 2013?

A two-year-old rumor comes back with a vengeance to haunt Ingolstadt. Do you remember the BMW City, or the 0 Series as it came to be called? Well, apparently the first pieces of information which surfaced in 2007 were wrong: it will not see daylight before the end of 2010. This, however, doesn't stop the rumor mill to set a new deadline.

2013. The year when BMW's take at the Audi A1 and the A-Klasse will come to be. The 0 Series, internally known as the UKL1 (Untere Kompactklasse), is said to be under development, to be slotted in between the 1 Series and the MINI.

The latter, apparently, will also form the basis for the future small BMW. Based on a MINI platform, the UKL1 is said to be thrown into the battle in three body-styles: three-door hatch, five-door hatch and two-seat roadster.

According to Jalopnik, citing a Car Magazine report, the future small BMW will be powered by new three and four cylinder engines. The most likely place to take on the production of the UKL1 will be the place which gives birth to the MINIs, the Oxford facility.

The story above is, as you might have guessed, only a distant rumor at this point. Of course, BMW is keeping a tight lid on the subject. Still, the fact that word about it has been around for quite some time leaves room for hope for those who expect to see a BMW rebadged MINI on the streets.