BMW concept shows front-drive future

The car is a concept in name only as the German carmaker gears up to grab a slice of the ever-growing compact vehicle market. Expect to see it in production sooner rather than later, likely wearing a 1 Series xDrive Gran Turismo badge. 

The man who oversaw the development of the “UKL” platform the car sits on, Thomas Wuertele, admits the vehicle is a “near production” concept and, despite being based on a front-drive platform, he insists it still conforms to the BMW brand by being a dynamic drive.

“Acceleration is below 8 seconds for 0-100km/h and with around 140kW and 200Nm it is really fun to drive,” Wuertele says. “We can build these sporty cars in this segment and still meet the customer demands of a lot of interior space and compact external dimensions. There is future growth in this class and that’s why we built this architecture.” Wuertele says the UKL platform can adjust from 3.8m to 4.5m in length. 

“So it’s a very flexible thing. We were thinking about a platform for front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive and this is the result,” he says. Power for the all-wheel drive hybrid crossover comes from a 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo engine up front, while a synchronous electric motor drives the rear wheels. Electric power is stored in a lithium-ion battery that gives the concept a purely electric range of around 30km. 

The average fuel consumption is a claimed 2.5L/100km with CO2 emissions of less than 60g/km. The rear-seat space is impressive and the back pews fold in a 40:20:40 layout for extra cargo space. The concept also uses a panoramic composite glass roof with “Suspended Particle Device” technology for push-button adjustment from clear glass to nearly opaque.