Here is a brand new one from the rumor mill. Hemscott.com is reporting that BMW is working on a small car, about the size of a MINI, to compete with the Audi A1.
>The BMW City is expected to hit the market at the end of 2010, the magazine claimed.
>It will be 3.75 metres long, have front-wheel drive and produce less than 100 grammes of carbon dioxide per kilometre, the report said.
We are filing this strictly under the category Rumor for the time being. Not really sure how well a MINI sized BMW would do, but it could be pretty interesting nonetheless. If it ever happens.
[ BMW working on Mini-based car ] Hemscott.com
A front wheel drive vehicle wearing the BMW propeller? What the world has come to?
I am afraid that BMW is providing the answer to a question no one is asking, that is, if these rumors prove to be true at some point or another.
So assuming that this BMW Series “0” is in the works, you have to wonder about the inevitable market impact this car can have on the MINI brand. After all it will be a MINI chassis wearing a BMW body wrapper.
I think BMW needs to distance themselves from the binge of badge engineering that has plagued General Motors, Ford and others in the past 30 years.
You could say the glass is half full or half empty, depending from your point of view, but I think a FWD BMW slotted below the 1 series (Which has the potential to draw away MINI customers) and so uncomfortably close to the MINI itself, is simply a very crumbly business decision and could affect MINI in a very negative way.
Sometimes I think that BMW is losing it, really. BMW should stick to high/higher end sporty RWD cars and crossovers. Let MINI be the outlet to satisfy the needs of the front wheel drive/Premium small car segment.
The only instance where a FWD series “0” BMW would make some sense, is to sell it in countries where the MINI is not available. Those customers will get the taste of the R56 prowess but on a BMW body.
In all and all, it is a crazy idea. Maybe I am missing the point. But let MINI be MINI and BMW be BMW.
Unless, BMW wants to be generous and supply a suitable RWD platform as the basis of a uber exotic MINI vehicle.
🙂
Very interesting proposition nevertheless.
-Nigel
Sounds like a dumb idea.
And lest not forget that the R56, for all practical purposes, is pretty much a Bimmer under the skin and wearing a MINI shaped body. 😉
Even IF it does happen, I wouldn’t expect to see it stateside.
Awesome! they could call it — the R56!
BMW created the premium Small Car market with the new MINI… I don’t see why it wouldn’t be available in the US…
uuuhh THAT wouldn’t make sense. It’s like BMW competing against itself….BMW already has the MINI, why build another car under the BMW brand to compete with it? It would be like Coca-Cola doing a new lime soda based on Sprite.
If memory serves. I saw an R53 on MTTS that had replaced all the MINI logos with BMW badges. Take a page from GM and just make this an option.
>Sounds like a dumb idea.
I’ll second that. I personally don’t believe it.
BMW + Front wheel drive? I don’t know all the history or anything, but I thought that was a no-no.
No way, but we could see BMW come out of the closet and add a roundel to the MINI wings & sell it through BMW dealers.
Seriously doubt this one, since BMW is always looking for greater profitablility for the Mini brand, building more direct competion seems silly.
Here I go again – the BMW-isation of MINI. I hope Chris Bangle doesn’t design it!
Talk about an about face of years and years of rear-wheel-drive technology being the Bmw-all and end-all.
Didn’t the X5 get morphed from a Range Rover when they owned it?
…hmmm. A small BMW to go up against the MINI?
I think they call it the BMW,3-door,1-Series.
…but don’t quote me on it…
…since it’s based on a rumor.
Well, they are crazy enough to do the 1 series which is just a tiny bit smaller than the 3 series and will probably be much cheaper and cannibalize tons of 3 sales.
How about if they offered a BMW 0 series coupe with performance oriented 4wd – the configuration you won’t see in the Mini Coupe.
It would cost more and it would not compete. It would slot in right between the JCW stage 2 and the 1 series….chew on that.
The 0 Series?
Hmmm, front wheel drive BMW? Well that portion of the rumor cannot be true…perhaps it will borrow the AWD system from the new MINI instead? 🙂
Sounds like a reasonable product for some markets, maybe not the US, though. I saw many, many small Mercedes in Northern Europe earlier this month, and quite a few BMW 1’s, too. While the MINI is a premium car, the comments I heard were that the MINI is too expensive for its size. A small BMW that easily holds four would compete well.
Also, Euro automakers are coming under increasing pressure to improve fuel efficiency, which supports the idea of more product in the small size space.
Just to add fuel to the fire, I could see this happen if BMW were to build up the MINI brand and then sell it off at a huge profit. Then build a small car under it’s own brand.
BMW, I’m sure, is cognizant of the anti-BMW sentiments in the (classic) mini crowd. I kind of forgot there was anti-BMW sentiments until I heard comments from some folks who attended MMWest and MMEast this year.
Yes Beken – didn’t BMW buy Rover (including Mini) and LandRover to get the 4-w-d technology then sell off Land Rover to Ford when the X5 was released?
So the fear is that BMW will sell MINI off after developing their own model.
Previous posts have already indicated that BMW needs to sell MINI platforms etc to try and make a bigger buck.
Worldwide there does seem to be pockets of anti-BMW MINI by Classic Mini owners and clubs. This was probably fuelled at the beginning by BMW not wanting to “know” anything to do with old Mini. We have now seen an about face by BMW. It would have been better if BMW had integrated old Mini parts and service into the new MINI structure.
Why not? BMW has to enlarge the production numbers of MINI to be profitable for the future. So they make problably a “0” (Ohhhh, not zero…) BMW line, based on a new MINI platform… it would be an incredible production number…
BMW 0.5 Series
Lowest end of the line with the smallest engine:
BMW 0.520
Higher end of the line with the engine from the 3 series:
BMW 0.528
M version
BMW M1/2