BMW—like its competitors Audi and Mercedes—is hot to add to its small-car portfolio, and new information suggests that the Munich-based firm could be planning as many as four new and/or rethought products to slot below the 3-series by 2015.
For enthusiasts, certainly the most exciting prospect is the possibility of a 2-series. Just this month, BMW filed U.S. trademark applications for the monikers 228, 230, and 235. The -28, -30, and -35 suffixes are currently affixed to six-cylinder engines in BMW’s other cars, a strategy that could carry over to the nascent 2, although it wouldn’t surprise us if such a car arrived with four-cylinders among the powertrain options. (BMW hasn’t stuck to a straight badge-to-displacement naming strategy for some time.) Either way, our sources tell us that the car is likely to be rear-wheel drive. All of this also puts BMW’s June trademark application for “M2″ in some very exciting context.
How does this square with the current 1-series? In mid-2011, the current 1-series hatchbacks will get a heavy face lift. It’s possible that, starting then, coupes on that RWD platform will adopt 2-series badging. More probable, though, is that once the 1-series switches to a front-wheel-drive platform—a change widely expected to take place around 2015—BMW would launch the 2-series as its entry-level rear-driver. Our guess is that the 2-series would be a two-door coupe/convertible only, at least in our market.
