BMW 0 Series mooted

BMW is developing an affordable front-wheel drive city car to slot in below the 1 Series, which will share its architecture with the new-generation MINI and BMWs first front-wheel drive model, the Concept Active Tourer (CAT).

Based on BMW's new UKL1 platform, the sub-1 Series compact car is likely to be powered by the company's new three-cylinder turbocharged engines which will make their debut in Australia in the 2014 MINI next year and the 1 Series and 3 Series from 2015.

No timeline has yet been put on the new '0 Series' and nor has a name been confirmed, but BMW Group Australia Managing Director, Phil Horton, stated the German brand has no qualms about offering a city-car smaller than the 1 Series hatch but larger than the four-metre-long i3 electric car, which arrives here in July.

"We still have the opportunity to go below 1 Series, so there'll be a smaller car than the 1 series, primarily focussed on these large city metro markets."

While BMW's first-ever front-wheel drive (and also unnamed) Concept Active Tourer has been confirmed for Australian delivery in late 2014 and will be positioned above the 1 Series, the smaller '0 Series' vehicle won't be as tiny as the Volkswagen up!, says the BMW Australia chief.

"No, not as small as that. We're talking about a MINI-sized car," said Horton, who said he was not privy to the car's development status and arrival time.

The BMW Australia boss hinted that the scalable UKL1 front-drive platform is likely to get a lot more love in future, with big plans to take the fight Mercedes-Benz growing compact passenger and SUV range.

"There's a lot more going on in terms of platform sharing within the BMW group, which clearly wasn't the case 10 years ago. This gives us more opportunity," said Horton.

"It's no secret that BMW is going FWD as well, which you have to do in that size."

The burning question for BMW's new city car will be its name: "I'll give you a very honest answer -- I don't know," said Horton.

The new 2 Series Coupe due here in the second quarter of 2014 and the just-arrived 4 Series Coupe adhere to the company's new model naming convention, which dictates even-numbered nameplates for two-door models and odd numbers for four- and five-door passenger models.

This won't leave the new city-car much room to move, but it’s possible BMW could make the new model a ‘0 Series’ three-door hatch to gel with its even-numbered nomenclature, or perhaps a 1 Series 'City' moniker could be tacked on.

Horton agreed it was a tricky situation and said the new model's name will probably not be known until moments before its unveiling.

"I don't know how that will work with the nomenclature. Strangely we seem to keep the nomenclature of these cars almost the last thing that we decide.

"Whether or not that will be 1 Series or whether there is some sort of 'zero' nomenclature below that, I honestly don't know the answer to that," concluded Horton.

Either way, the next-generation 1 Series hatch and 2 Series coupe/convertible due in the second half of this decade are also expected to be developed from the UKL1 platform, spelling a whole raft of small front-drive BMW models below the 3 Series.

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