SPY PICS: Baby Beemer two-doors closer

Ignore the disguises -- here are the best pictures yet of BMW's soon-to-be-released 1 Series Cabrio and Coupe. Snapped on the legendary Nürburgring by The Carsales Network's spy guys, Carparazzi, the baby Beemers are almost ready for release. Indeed, at least one of the baby Beemers is set to debut in Europe in the very near future.

Our bet is on the soft-top to lead the charge -- in time to catch the second half of the Northern Hemisphere summer. The coupe is likely to follow around six months later -- maybe in time for Christmas in Munich.

The 1 Series Cabrio eschews the current trend to folding 'hard' roofs and features a conventional soft top a la the last generation E46 3 Series convertible. The different roof-system will help BMW distance the car from the bells and whistles 325/335i folding roof model, just released.

With its low horizontal waist line, the Coupe meantime reprises the simple and elegant glasshouse of the E30 3 Series from the 1980s. Boot sizing looks practical on both versions. Dismiss the awkward C pillar disguise worn by the hardtop, this 'weight' will not be present in the production version.

Down Under it'll be 2008 before we see the cars. And while the two-doors will be available with a range of petrol and diesel engines from low-capacity four-cylinders in Europe, we expect the cars to sit at the premium end of the 1 Series range when they arrive Down Under. Indeed, there's no guarantee Australia will even see four-cylinder models -- petrol or diesel.

Locally, the 1 Series two-doors are tipped to resurrect (in part) the classic 323i badge. It's not known whether this means they will arrive using the existing version of BMW's 2.5-litre six under the bonnet or a new high-output six of a capacity more correctly aligned with its model classification.

-- with Carparazzi