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As will be reported in this week's Autoweek BMW has decided to only bring the 4 door version of it's new small car – the 1 series to the US. Here's an excerpt:
BMW AG will build different versions of its new 1 Series for Europe and the USA… Buyers in the U.S., where the 1 Series is due in 2005, will be offered as a traditional four-door sedan.
…Tom Purves, CEO of BMW of North America, said the US market will get only one body style of the 1 Series — not a hatchback — and two engines, most likely six-cylinder units.
In the USA, potential buyers include owners of the Volkswagen Jetta and similar cars “who aspire to own a BMW,” he said.
“We aren't getting completely carried away saying it will be a home run success,” Purves said. “It needs to perform like a BMW that Americans will like. There is a reason we don't sell four-cylinder BMWs in America.”
…BMW CEO Helmut Panke said the 1 Series will be nearly identical in size to the BMW 2002, the predecessor model to the 3 Series.
BMW is designing the 1- 3-Series model ranges to include up to 10 body styles, said Burkhard Goeschel BMW board member for r&d and purchasing.
He would not specify which body styles each range will get, but the large number of derivatives suggests several body styles of the 1 Series are possible.
So my question is did the MINI's success in America kill the idea of a 2 door hatchback BMW for our market? While it was never very clear how BMW would deal with two similar products in a similar price range they always seemed to imply that the full range of the 1 series would be in the US.
Further is BMWUSA CEO Tom Purves' claim of only bringing over the six cylinder for the 1 series in the US a tip off that a 4 door MINI is indeed coming to the BMW family? With the 2 and 4 door MINI obviously only available as a front driver with 4 cylinder engines and the 1 series only available in rear wheel drive inline six cylinder form BMW would be able better define the differences between the brands. This would obviously get murky with a $25k 2 door 1 series and a $25k 2 door MCS.
<p>I think the only reason why BMW will not offer the upcoming 1-series in the US market, is to try to eliminate as much as possible, any price and market segment overlaps between the very successful MINI and the BMW 1 series. If MINI didn't exist, rest assured that BMW would had planned to bring more than 1 body style of this entry level car.</p>
<p>A $22K BMW 1 series hatchback has the potential to cannibalize MINI Cooper S sales. True they both are very different cars when it comes to market audience and powertrain layout.</p>
<p>Having only an entry level BMW 1 series sedan with RWD and a smooth 6 in line engine, will further differentiate MINI from its BMW cousins and I think this is a good thing, because this will put further pressure on the MINI side of the business to come up with more body variants such as the Cabrio and the Traveller wagon to name a few.</p>
<p>If you want to stick with MINI, the buyer will have a), b) and c) body choices if this individual wants to step up to a 6 cyl engine and RWD, the clear option becomes the Series-1 sedan which will probably start at say $25K to $28K??</p>
<p>I think BMW needs to worry more about the future role of the 3-series, which has been BMW's bread and butter car since the beginning of time. Is the next 3 series moving upscale? If the Series 1 is a success it will affect 3 series sales not MINI's.</p>
<p>I personally would like to see the 1-series in the flesh and would consider it as an alternative only if MINI delays the introduction of a 4 door model in 3 to 4 years down the road. A series-1 sport wagon would indeed be a sweet deal but I would prefer a MINI Traveller wagon just because it is more our type of car.</p>
<p>I might add, that VW needs to worry about the series 1 as well; However, BMW's challenge will be to bring all those dissapointed Jetta owners to buy another “unproven” and perhaps costlier German car. This is one of the reasons why BMW needs to get the quality of the Series 1 right from the start. This has been their Nemesis with the MINI and they can't afford to continue to botch product launches because of lack of real world testing and stringent quality control measures.</p>
<p>Amen to that. BMW must improve their quality of their cars in the next 5 years or they will be in the same position as Mercedes is now – three spots below Chevrolet in JD Power quality ratings.</p>
<p>As it stands now it's good but not great.</p>
<p>i was really looking forward to the 1 series coupe….oh well!</p>
<p>In response to Frank's post above, I don't think the message was that the one series will be scratched entirely (unless BMW chooses to call the four-door version a 2-series, which would stand contrary to their current naming convention), but rather that they will scratch the hatchback coupe version only, retaining the four-door sedan. The rest of your post gives thoughtful insite to layout of powertrain and body mates. As a current '03 MCS owner (well, lessor), I was looking particularly forward to the arrival of the entire 1- (and perhaps 2-) series lineup. I still intend to make the transition to entry-level Bimmer, but would have preferred the look of a two-door hatchback, and will be interested to see how the 4 will be executed. However, I agree with Gabe that BMW's quality trend needs to remain strong to hold my interest.</p>
<p>“There is a reason we don't sell four-cylinder BMWs in America.” </p>
<p>That's too bad… lumping all of us into the “we need more power” group rather than “the fun to drive group” but our reputation precedes us… POWER!</p>
<p>Imagine the M1
That'd kick the butt of any JCW MCS…
He's right, the 1 would most certainly infringe upon their MINI investments… and it would reduce the mini to just a neat looking car.
I would consider a 2 door 1 series… Imagine again the M badge and the Dinan Badge on it… RWD, sweet. And it's a good looking car to boot.</p>
<p>WILL THE NEW 1 SERIES 4-DOOR HAVE THE SAME DIMENSIONS AS THE CURRENT 3 SERIES 4-DOORS…I CURRENTLY OWN A 328i AND HAVE TO CONSIDER WHETHER THE BEST FINANCIAL OPTION WOULD BE TO UPGRADE TO THE NEW KID ON THE BLOCK OR UPDATE THE OL' FAVORITE…</p>
<p>BMW 1 series is seriously ugly and has poor hatrch access. Mini has little to fear. What a pity BMW bungled the One instead of doing another retro coup by styling a 2 door sedan on BMW 1602 lines- BMW could have saved a bomb on parts inventory and majored on much needed quality.</p>
<p>I agree with you John, </p>
<p>BWN claimed the BMW 120D model of the Series 1 would be able to go 0-62 in just 7.9 seconds. And they expect it to get over 40mpg. It's a compact which makes city driving easy and its a BMW which means it's a blast to drive on any occasion.</p>
<p>The 1996 BMW Z3 was a 4 four-cylinder car.</p>