BMW 1 Series News

The explosive growth of the BMW model range is about to be defused in Australia, with the line-up being trimmed to cut competition and duplication, making it easier for customers in showrooms.The plan is to have only three choices of any individual model, with two petrol engines and one diesel.The current list includes 36 individual models in the 3 Series sedan line-up ... without counting the coupe, convertible or station wagon.“We get a lot of questions about whetherwe have too many models,” BMW Australia managing director Guenther Seemann says.“I think we do have too many.”He believes BMW must cut the choices to streamline business, though he says there will still be all-new models in future — with the X6 four-wheel-drive and M3 sedan up next — asthe German company looks for customers.The work has begun, though there are a dozen individual BMW lines, from the baby 1 Series to the four-wheel-drive X5 and flagship 7 Series, with 50 official engine choices. BMW has 189 individual models on the list.“We've already begun tidying up. The 116i hatch has been removed from the range, there are the manuals in the 3 Series and one of the X3 manuals,” Seemann says.“In the 5 Series range, one of the V8s will go.I believe for each and every model line-up in the future, as we add models, we need two petrol and one diesel variant in each case. No more. We have so many different model lines, it is not practical or possible to display them all in a showroom.”He says it will take time to get things sorted, partly because there are so many models.“It will happen in the next two years. Globally, there are five petrol and five diesel engine choices. And that is just in the 3 Series range,” Seemann says. But there is definitely space for some additions, like the four-door M3 sedan.“We will bring the four-door version, but I do not know at what price. We have to price it lower than the M3 two-door.” 

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The explosive growth of the BMW model range is about to be defused in Australia. The line-up is being trimmed to cut competition and duplication, making it easier for customers in showrooms.The plan is to have only three choices of any individual model, with two petrol engines and one diesel. The current list includes 36 individual models in the 3 Series sedan line-up . . . without counting the coupe, convertible or station wagon.“We get a lot of questions about whether we have too many models. I think we do have too many,” BMW Australia managing director Guenther Seemann says.He believes BMW must cut the choices to streamline business, though he says there will still be all-new models in future — with the X6 four-wheel drive and M3 sedan up next — as the German company looks for customers.The work has begun, though there are a dozen individual BMW lines, from the baby 1 Series to the four-wheel-drive X5 and flagship 7-Series, with 50 official engine choices. BMW has 189 individual models on the list.“We've already begun tidying up. The 116i hatch has been removed from the range, there are the manuals in the 3 Series and one of the X3 manuals,” Seeman says.“In the 5 Series range, one of the V8s will go. I believe for each and every model line-up in the future, as we add models, we need two petrol and one diesel variant in each case. No more. We have so many different model lines, it is not practical or possible to display them all in a showroom.He says it will take time to get things sorted, partly because there are so many models.“It will happen in the next two years. Globally, there are five petrol and five diesel engine choices. And that is just in the 3 Series range,” he says.But there is definitely space for some additions, like the four-door M3 sedan.“We are starting the business case. It looks good, I must say,” he says.“We will bring the four-door version, but I do not know at what price. We always follow the normal BMW pattern, where a two-door is more expensive than a four-door. We have to price it lower than the M3 two-door.” 

After talking with leading British executives of the car company, it's still a 50-50 proposition.It is confirmed that Jaguar design chief Ian Callum has produced a highly secret design for a small Jag.However, Jaguar director of programs Mick Mohan believes there is no room in Jaguar for another model.“Jaguar is a three-model brand; that's about all it can stand,” he said.With the launch of the XF, Jaguar now has four models but Mohan believes the X-Type will be phased out about 2010. “There will be no small car. It's a very competitive segment,” he said.“We can't compete in every part of the luxury sector. We need to pick our spots of where we are to compete.”However, that is not necessarily the opinion of Jaguar chief financial officer David Smith, who flew into Melbourne this week for the funeral of UK Jaguar Land Rover chief Geoff Polites.He believes the sale of Jaguar Land Rover to Indian company Tata could open a lot of options and believes a BMW 1 Series-sized Jag has some merit.“The Jaguar design team has a lot of ideas,” he said. “I think that is one of a number of interesting options.”He also thinks there is room for an F-Type — a modern interpretation of the iconic E Type sports car.“But no decision has been made yet,” he said.Here there is some agreement with Mohan declaring that Jaguar needs to “get some sporty character back into our products."He suggested Jaguar could go the way of outgoing owner Ford by moving into smaller capacity turbo engines.“We will work very closely still with Ford, so we will keep a close eye on what they will do.”However, don't bet on the X-Type being phased out, either.Smith says there has been no decision made yet. 

BMW's baby could be going racing. As the powerful new 135i with a 225kW/400Nm 3-litre, bi-turbo inline six is due to reach Australia next year.

Well, just as you began scraping a deposit for the 135i, here’s another bit of history; a four door M3.Now take a look at these first pics of the sedan sibling of the coupe that was launched locally only last week.You only need to go back a few generations to find the last M3 sedan (or saloon as the Germans will call it) and even then the E36 never made it to these shores. Which makes the fact that BMW Australia are looking at the business case for this one so intriguing.Naturally, like the coupe, it packs BMW’s all-new 4.0-litre V8 developing maximum output of 309 kW and 400 Nm at 3,900 rpm. It is 15 kg lighter than the last of its inline six-cylinder forebears.The saloon gets to 100 km/h from standing in a claimed 4.9 seconds with an electronically limited top speed of 250 km/h. In the EU test cycle, it returned 12.4 litres of premium unleaded per 100 kilometres.“Essentially the M3 sedan has all the awesome parts of the M3 coupe but with two more doors and so more practicality,” BMW Australia spokesman Toni Andreevski says.“We’ve never had an M3 sedan before so that’s why we’re taking our time to consider it. It would be some 12 months before it arrived.”By that time, the new sports coupe and sedan might have acquired the latest generation sequential manual gearbox. While SMG-equipped M3s comprised the great majority of E46 series sales, the new car currently has the non-option of (a rather good, actually) six-speed manual.But a conventional clutch pedal is something of turn off in these lazy and shiftless times.“The M3 won’t get a traditional auto,” Andreevski says.“BMW pioneered the sequential manual and so our engineers are working on some kind of automated gearbox.”If the four door model does make it this way, it would likely be a niche model, if BMW’s experience with the acclaimed 335i series is any guide. So far in 2007, they’ve shifted 652 of the shapely 335i coupe, making it the best selling 3 Series coupe, as opposed to 255 of the equivalent sedan.The likely arrival late next year of Lexus's first compact sports saloon, the 5.0 litre V8 IS-F, might tip BMW's hand. 

The four seater is due in Australia mid-next year, according to BMW Australia spokesman Toni Andreevski.And it might be simultaneously rolled out locally with the 1 Series Coupe that was also exclusively revealed in CARSguide last month.The latter is due for its world debut in the next fortnight.“It depends on availability,” Andreevski says of the models, which, unlike some BMW lines available here, will both be manufactured in Germany.“There is nothing comparable that has rear-wheel-drive and perfect balance front to back. This will be the real driver's choice.”The 1 Series is likely to be priced between $60,000 and $80,000.“Historically we've owned that segment and we can expect buyer interest in a BMW coupe or convertible priced there to be strong.”A choice of five engines will be offered globally, including a diesel which is unlikely to reach Australia, at least in the near future.Of more importance, though is the range-topping 135i. Sharing the acclaimed bi-turbo 3.0 inline six first seen in the 335i and due nest in the 1 Series Coupe, it will lead the local lineup and account for as much as 50 per cent of the model line's sales if the 3 Series equivalent is any guide.Of the three other engines - the atmo six-cylinder 125i, the four-pot 120i and 118i  - BMW Australia is likely to take the first two.With a claimed 0-100km/h time of 5.6 seconds, the 225kW/400Nm 135i is a good half second quicker even than Porsche's superb Boxster S roadster. European Union testing posits combined cycle fuel consumption of 9.4 litres per 100km.It has a modified M Aerodynamics Package from the M Sports Package as standard, which includes front skirt, door sills, rear skirt are identical in their details to those on the forthcoming coupe. The M theme continues beneath with sports suspension and a high performance braking system as standard.There are two standard colours available in the soft-top range, classical black or beige. It can be optioned in an exlcusive anthracite with silver effect.While folding hardtops are the fashion, the canopy of the 1 Series - unlike the 3 Series which was launched earlier this year - is of a fabric interwoven with fine shiny metallic fibres. The canopy folds open or closed in 22 seconds and can be operated at road speeds of up to 40km/h.Even with the lid folded in, a useful 240 litres luggage space is claimed.BMW make much of its sun reflective technology, which reduces the heating effect of UV rays on the leather upholstery by sunlight by way of deflective colour pigments worked into the material.The 1 Series is equipped with a rollover sensor, which automatically activates rollover bars should it detect the possibility of capsize. It simultaneously activates the front seat belt tensioners and the head thorax air bags.Andreevski says that BMW's already dizzying array of variants, far from confusing buyers, is working to the marque's advantage.“The main focus is identifying the customer's needs and demands. We're set to reach our target of 16,800 for 2007.”

In his 15 years at BMW, the Munich car maker's US-born head of design has overseen the creation of some of the industry's most admired and imitated, if controversial, cars.

It may seem like a strange comparison. A BMW 120i up against a Mini Cooper S Chilli. From a historical perspective, it's a small German luxury vehicle against a utilitarian British car for the masses, albeit the performance variant. But as with any number of instances in the car world these days, history has little to do with the reality of the present.True, the British Leyland Mini of the 1960s was a no-frills car. It came with the bare essentials, including a four-cylinder 850cc engine and four-speed manual gearbox.And, at the same time, in this neck of the woods (Australia) anything with the spinning propeller badge was considered luxury, even if it was merely as a result of exchange rates that had BMWs priced at least 150 per cent above most other cars.But how times (and exchange rates) have changed. Both the BMW120i and the Mini S Chilli now come from the same family, the BMW group. These days, neither would be considered as a true luxury vehicle.And since both appeared in the carsguide garage recently, both are around the $50,000 mark, why not a comparison?Today's Mini is to all intents and purposes designed and built by BMW. Bits of it come from various parts of Europe but it is a German car masquerading as a British vehicle.You get two doors, in the “S,” a highly sophisticated 1600cc turbocharged engine, and, in the test car, an equally sophisticated six-speed automatic gearbox. The interior, and for that matter the external appearance, is about as far from utilitarian as it's possible to get, especially in this “Chilli,” which came with heated leather seats, six airbags, floor mats, interior lighting package (colour adjustable), climate control, cruise control, 10-speaker sound system, sports seats and stainless steel pedals and footrest.Automatic transmission ($2200), Dynamic Stability Control ($840), chrome line interior ($250), glass roof with sliding and tilting function ($1840) and seat heating ($560) brought the total cost to $49,190.The BMW 120i five-door hatch (with executive package) tipped the scales at $52,850, thanks to options such as metallic paint ($1300), executive package of leather, USB interface and preparation for Bluetooth mobile interface ($1700), BMW navigation system ($3500), luggage compartment separation net ($150), electric glass sunroof ($2200) and voice recognition system ($700).Options excluded, the Beemer was $43,300 and the Mini $43,500.So for the same money you could have either vehicle. On the one hand a quick turbocharged 1600cc engine putting out 128kW and 240Nm of torque from as low as 1600rpm. An engine at the cutting edge, both frugal and powerful. On the other hand, another four, 2000cc, naturally aspirated, putting out 115kW and 200Nm of torque but at 3600rpm. Also a sophisticated engine, a revver in the best BMW tradition.The Mini wins the power contest both on paper and on the road, where the generous torque figure so low in the rev range means the Mini can be described as quick, while the BMW performance is moderate to good.True, there is only a 1.3 second advantage to the Mini in the 0-100km/h time if both cars are redlined, but real-world driving means the “grunt” of the Mini gives it much stronger legs in all conditions.In handling and roadholding stakes, the Mini takes the honours but not by as much of a margin as might be imagined.You can still provoke considerable understeer in the Mini and there is also noticeable torque steer if you gas it up with the wheels turned.In the ride/comfort stakes the BMW wins hands down.Both the 120i and the Chilli S use run flat tyres with hard sidewalls. The tyres do neither car any favours when it comes to passenger comfort, but it is the Mini which thumps and bangs over potholes rather than the Beemer.Both have stability control, which lets the driver push hard but stops the same driver from overdoing things.Interior set-up is much of a muchness in terms of switches and gadgets and dials.The Mini is more “funky” with aeronautical toggle switches both overhead (a la Boeing aircraft) and on the centre console. It also has an adjustable interior light colour scheme tooling through blue to red. The BMW is more traditional, the baby 120 having a cabin much like its bigger brother, understated if anything. The Mini is brashly youthful.If you want to go fast and be noticed, it's the blue Mini with the white bonnet stripes and twin chromed exhausts. If comfort and prestige float your boat, go for the BMW. However, $50,000 is more than a reasonable amount to pay for a motor car and neither the blue-and-white badge of the baby BMW or the “S” logo of the Mini present a watertight case of best value for money. If the budget is around $50,000, both the Mini and BMW have plenty of competition not restricted to Ford Focus XR5 ($37,000), VW Golf GTI ($40,000), VW Passat 2.0 turbo FSI ($45,000), and Mazda3 MPS ($40,000) for the Mini; and Mercedes 200 Turbo Avant ($48,300), Mercedes B-Class 200 ($48,500), Volvo S60 2.4LE ($50,000), Audi A3 TFSI ($43,000), and Audi A4 2.0 sedan ($50,000) for the BMW.The choice available these days is truly all encompassing and figuring out how much you are paying for the badge rather than the abilities and appointments you want is a tough task.