BMW 2 Series for Paris

BMW will use this September’s Paris Motor Show to preview its first front-wheel drive model, the all-new 2 Series, which will spawn an entirely new model family including radical new front-drive replacements for its existing 1 Series coupe and convertible.

Based on the German brand’s all-new compact front-drive UKL platform, which will also underpin the third-generation (F56) Mini model range – including the first five-door Mini hatchback - the Compact Activity Tourer (CAT) concept will preview the look of the upcoming 2 Series, BMW’s first direct rival to the Mercedes-Benz B-Class.

Just as significantly, motoring.com.au has learned the high-roofed five-door hatchback – which effectively constitutes BMW’s first people-mover - will be joined in the new 2 Series model range by front-drive successors for BMW’s two smallest sportscars, the 1 Series coupe and convertible.

BMW sources have also confirmed the 2 Series range will also eventually grow to include X2 crossover and 2 Series GT models, just as the latest F30-generation sedan and wagon models will be joined by 3 Series-based X4 and GT models, while the replacements for BMW’s current 3 Series coupe and convertible will wear 4 Series badges.

BMW recently trademarked the X2 and 2 Series nameplates, and the latter is expected to emerge as BMW’s first front-drive production model and first B-Class rival late next year.

While GT and X2 models will feature an elevated ride height, xDrive all-wheel drive and BMW’s new turbocharged 1.5-litre three-cylinder petrol engine, which will also power the next Mini, the 2 Series is eventually expected to join the 3, 5 and 7 Series in offering petrol-electric hybrid power.

With the facelifted 1 Series coupe and convertible line-up launched here in March 2011 and the redesigned F20-generation 1 Series five-door hatch released in Australia last October (pictured), the new front-drive 2 Series coupe and convertible models are due on sale globally in 2014 and the redesigned front-drive 1 Series is expected by around 2016.

Therefore, in what will mark a quantum shift in its hitherto exclusively rear-drive model strategy, BMW’s smallest mainstream rear-drive models will be the 3 Series sedan and Z4 roadster within about five years - with the exception of the ground-breaking new rear-drive i3 electric car due here in early 2014.

In the same way that the new Mercedes-Benz A- and B-Class platform will underpin at least five distinct models, BMW’s new UKL architecture (an acronym for the German words ‘unter klasse’, or ‘entry level’ in English) is expected to form the basis for no fewer than 10 different BMW and Mini models.

Apart from spelling the end of a unique Mini platform that currently generates less than 300,000 global sales annually, UKL is reportedly also expected to improve the profitability of BMW’s compact vehicle range by spawning between half a million and 800,000 vehicle sales per annum by 2020.

While a front-drive layout for the next 1 Series hatch will eliminate many of the current rear-drive model’s packaging inefficiencies, it will also spell the end of the line for the world’s only mainstream rear-drive small car, just as the new 2 Series range will comprise a radical reincarnation of the existing 1 Series coupe and convertible as compact front-drive two-door sportscars.

Hence, by 2015 BMW’s mainstream model range will expand to cover every number between one and seven, including the 1 Series hatch, 2 Series hatch/coupe/convertible, 3 Series sedan/wagon, 4 Series coupe/convertible, 5 Series sedan/wagon, 6 Series coupe/convertible and 7 Series limousine.

In addition, there will be GT or Gran Coupe versions of the 2 Series, 4 Series, 5 Series and 6 Series, plus the X1, X2, X3, X4, X5 and X6 crossovers, the Z4 roadster and the i3 and i8 EVs.

Confused? You will be.

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