BMW 1series Sedan 5

While nearly the entire automotive world is focused at the Geneva Motor Show this week, our European spy photographers stayed put in the northern regions and managed to snap the upcoming BMW 1 Series Sedan out in the snow. This prototype wears a different alloy wheel design from previous units we’ve seen.

This new sedan is codenamed the F52 NES (New Entry Sedan) and will allow BMW to compete head to head against rivals like the Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class and the Audi A3 Sedan. Of course, we’re not quite sure if such a model would be relevant here in Malaysia since there’s 316i to do that.

BMW 1series Sedan 9

Based on current BMW nomenclature the F52 should logically be called the 1 Series Sedan, but you know how fancy BMW’s naming strategy can be these days – it might just end up being called the 2 Series Gran Coupe or 2 Series Active Sedan or something funny like that. After all, the 2 Series name somehow was used for BMW’s B-Class/Golf Sportsvan competitor, the 2 Series Active Tourer and the larger seven-seater 2 Series Gran Tourer.

The car is expected to use the same UKL front-wheel drive platform as the MINI range and BMW’s front wheel drive models. This means three-cylinder and four-cylinder engines mated to six-speed manual, six-speed auto or eight-speed auto gearboxes, with drive going to the front wheels with all-wheel drive likely an optional extra, since the CLA and A3 Sedan comes with 4MATIC and quattro options respectively. We could be looking at a 2016/2017 launch for the car.

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