Enhancing Desire : The Compact Sporty BMW.

Enhancing Desire : The Compact Sporty BMW.
[HR][/HR]The latest Autobild magazine from Germany is currently running a feature on BMW and the seventeen new models due from the company over the course of the next two-three years.

One such model illustrated is the BMW 2er shown below in Cabrio variant.
Whilst some of the rendered illustrations border on some fiction, the 2er Cabrio illustrated shows some idea of the actual surface changes in distinguishing the 2er from the 1er, which BMW have concentrated on to give a more sportier look to the small and very popular 1er Coupe replacement.

The 2er as it progresses from the 1er to slot in with the even number of the Coupe family , will be BMW's entry Coupe model in Rear Wheel Drive specification. With advanced plans to switch the entire 1er to front wheel drive in the next generation. The 2er is introduced to keep the sportier compact rear wheel drive concept in balance.

As seen on the rendering by the Autobild artist Larson. He has incorporated some of the current design thinking within BMW demonstrated on the visual canvas of the Vision ConnectedDrive and 328 Hommage concepts with their prominent surface layering in this case the 2er given its sporting credentials is designed as a concept in motion with everything on the surface of the car raked forward.

The Surface layering distinguishes the bloodline between the 1er and 2er with the rear wheel arch being formed by a dropping character line which will give the car a compact rear deck as the typical BMW 2dr Sedan look.
Like the Sporthatch this line will surround the rear arch and pronounce the surface work on the lower flanks of the car.

The rear tail-lights appear in two formats one not shown here , is raked forward in some way similar to the current car with tones of the Vision ConnectedDrive leading into a more pronounced L-Shape. Like the current 1er Coupe and Cabrio, the characterline which visually "connects" the rear arch spreads around the rear , allowing the rear lamps to droop down when that "U" shape meets the license plate in the middle allowing a visual comparison with the current car in progress.
The other format shown here is the same idea with the taillights wrapping around in the opposite direction as shown in the illustration.

The front of the 1er has not been universally accepted by a minority, nevertheless the car has been successful with the Sportline being the popular choice. But with the seperation of the two models , BMW have given the 2er its own identity. It will progress the look of the 1er but give its own distinctive look which will be less visual than the hatch but still with a very dynamic sporty appearance.

The 2er will of course emulate the 1er in engine options with both Petrol and Diesel of Four and Six cylinders. And optional xDrive.
In order to bring the M Performance compact car to the US, There will be an M235i heading the top of the range. And available in both Coupe and Cabrio.

The 1M Coupe replacement is undergoing intense discussion. The basic recipe is the same as before - The entry M , powerful , compact and great to drive but with the opportunity to push for progress without sacrificing its core strengths and attributes.

With the advent of the BMW 6er Gran Coupe and the promise of a similar concept for the upcoming 4er. BMW has been left in a sort of dilemma.
As the 2er retains that classic BMW appearance , turning the car into a four door will give the car the look of a small sedan, which goes against BMW's Gran Coupe idea. A Small RWD sedan is not condsidered by BMW in the long term as they need to protect the 3er and its large fleet market share, something that projections show that the Audi A3 Sedan and Mercedes CLA could eat into the C-Klasse and A4 respectively especially in the highly contested fleet market where the larger cars are more profitable.
But the desire of such small sedan-Coupe concepts has not gone unnoticed.
Especially for markets like the US and China.

Although nothing has been confirmed BMW are investigating two options - One would be a four dr spun of the upcoming BMW 1er City model which will be available as both 3dr and 5dr, and its adaptable modular architecture which would be available with FWD and AWD - Making it a formidable rival for both the A3 and CLA as they are both FWD and AWD. This could also sire a four dr MINI Sedan.

Another idea is GCC - GranCoupe Compact. Which is in the infant stages of discussion so far, A seperate model kind of like how the 5er GT fits within the regular 5er , enhancing the design of the regular Coupe and Cabrio but with a much lower Gran Coupe glasshouse and roofline but remaining with RWD and optional xDrive. This model could be a four or five dr or even take a new direction in design. BMW Design have been evaluating highly contemporary stylish concepts such as the Hyundai Veloster and Citroen DS5 for a varied perception.
However, having a look at the Mercedes-Benz CSC Concept in Beijing shows that it is in fact longer than the C-Klasse and therefore looks more of a car to compete against the 4er Gran Coupe rather than a 2er.

The BMW 2er Coupe will launch next Summer with the Cabrio appearing towards the end of 2013.
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"The front of the 1er has not been universally accepted by a minority" Wake Up. It's not accepted by a majority. Needs a redesign.

http://www.autobild.de/artikel/bmw-vorschau-3402938.html
And then check bildergalerie.

Scott, I don't see any pic.

Does anyone have access to latest Autobild to scan the latest issue? so we can see what Scott is talking about.

Exactly. Too much sheet metal on the front.

Ha ha! How do you know? If you're going to pull out some "selling better than previous 1 Series" statistic then it's probably a case of people buying the 1 Series DESPITE the nose design. If only you knew what sales would have been if it had a better nose.

LOL. "Not universally accepted by a minority" is the biggest piece of detatched marketing driven BS to spin around one of the businesses worst nose designs.

I've said many times, and I'm going to say it again: people don't buy cars (or any other objects) they consider ugly. Period.
People only buy things they love, like, admire ... or in the worst case scenario things they are indifferent to.

Somebody who buys something (s)he considers ugly, usually buys it as a gift for someone else, lol.

Seriously - do you guys buy things you consider ugly? I don't think so. Sure you have bought objects that are more appealing than others, you can even rang them accordingly to your personal aesthetic preferences & criteria ... but I still think the object at the very end of that list isn't ugly to you. Perhaps less appealing than other things ... but hardly ugly. Am I right?

So, is there anything like absolute ugliness, or the beauty / ugliness is determined in relation to aesthetics of other objects? Can something you once considered beautiful become ugly to you over the time? Or it has just its appeal since other (more trendy or more appealing) objects emerge? Or perhaps your personal criteria & preferences have changed over the time ... even under influence of media & social / cultural atmosphere that surrounds you?

Btw ... is odd necessarily also ugly? I don't think so.

I'm sure one can be attracted by odd looks, but definitely not by ugly ones. Something that attracts you can't be ugly. Since ugly is per se unappealing - by definition.

Yes they do. I think the nose on the 1 Series is ugly, but the rest of the car makes up for it. I would happily buy a 120d M Sport.

But "the 1 Series is selling well so people who think it's ugly must be in the minority" is utter nonsense. Who's to say that the sales of the 1 Series wouldn't be doubled if it had a better nose?

The previous X3 was ugly as hell and still sell. People buy them because it's a BMW, RWD and cache it's has. It's the badge that helps sell it, not the looks.

You present this as if it's some hard point, which it is not.

And 1er sales could be 2 times better if it were more like the F30. The sales mean nothing.
A lot of people buy BMW for the status nowadays, and a lot will also buy it because it's a fantastic drive (best in class and only RWD hatch), despite the fugly front. Those people might have bought one even though they don't think the car is pretty. And we will never know how many people will never even consider the F20 because of the looks.

If you guys consider something ugly, that doesn't necessarily mean others think the same ... nor it does mean the thing is actually ugly. Odd vs ugly. Odd is not ugly. Oddness attracts, ugliness doesn't.

I'm sure some F20 buyers may consider car's nose odd ... but definitely not ugly. People DO NOT buy things they consider ugly. At least nor for themselves.

Mad

Entry BMW ... New one, yes. But for the same price you can get used 3er, perhaps even 5er etc ... more prestigious & better looking cars than 1er.

RWD ... since at least 80% buyers don't even care about drive configuration, I don think they buy 1er because it's RWD. Be sure people will still (even more - since the car will be more spacious) buy next gen 1er which will be FWD.

Some people like how the F20 looks ... Perhaps not 100%, but still enough to buy it.

And martin, admit you'd secretly admired the Forester LCI look ... somewhere deep inside your heart (if not brain).

So you're saying that they dumb down the looks of the 1er so it won't eat 3er sales. As retarded as that is, it might even be true...

No, I'm not saying that! WTH?

lol, sorry. What do you mean then?

Plenty of people buy ugly cars..... and cars they think are ugly, because the car gives them more important aspects to them to outweigh that. I've been driving around in this POS Pugeot in London today, that my friend resents aesthetically, but bought it because of price and functional aspects.... he's not a unique story.

For most buyers in the 1er segment especially (entry level luxury car), the symbol on the bonnet is more important than the ghastly face and expression.

So if with go along with this notion that many people may have bought the 1er based on factors other than design and styling, then SCOTT's statement holds true.

The front of the 1er has not been universally accepted by a minority, nevertheless the car has been successful with the Sportline being the popular choice.

Even if the owner of the new 1er found the front-end design ugly, they still purchased the car. They looked past this issue, they accepted this drawback, nevertheless, they went ahead and bought the darn thing. They don't have to love or like it to accept it.

For many of us on this forum (definitely including myself), we haven't accepted its hidonkeyious front end... it still bothers us, and we struggle to look past it.

To put it simply, with a simply attractive front end, whatever the new 1er sells at (no surprise that it's an improvement in sales over the old one, as general inflationary aspects should always have new models outselling old ones) it's less than what its true potential (nice front end) would have had it selling at.