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Ken Gratton15 Apr 2015
NEWS

BMW denies plans for SUV below X1

MINI has that turf all sewn up, says local product planning boss

BMW is NOT working on a tiny SUV to tackle Audi's Q1 – not badged as a BMW at least.

So says Shawn Ticehurst, Head of Product and Market Planning for BMW Australia, in conversation with motoring.com.au during the launch of the latest M-fettled X5 and X6 models earlier this week.

Two German magazines have reported that work on a tiny BMW SUV is going ahead and the car will reach the market at some point during 2017.

Not true, Ticehurst retorted. The mooted sub-X1 SUV would be selling into a part of the market MINI occupies, the local BMW exec pointed out.

He did hint that a 'four-door coupe' version of the next-generation front-wheel drive X1 (pictured) will go into production, but that car – expected to be badged 'X2' – is "still not confirmed" by the factory.

During the same conversation, Ticehurst also cleared up a few other matters concerning BMW's future product range.

The next X3, he said, will arrive in global markets later than Automedia's estimation of late 2016 as a 2017 model. Since the current F25 generation of X3 has only been on sale in Australia since late 2011 and the LCI (mid-life) update arrived here in April last year, a seven-year model life cycle would suggest the all-new X3 is actually due here in 2018 – and probably quite late that year. Working back from there, the global launch for the X3 will be earlier in 2018 – at Geneva or Detroit, as two possibilities.

The 1 Series sedan, which the spy photographers at Automedia indicated would go into production for global markets, will be a dedicated China-only model, says Ticehurst. When it was put to him that the car would make an effective competitor to the Mercedes CLA and Audi A3 sedan here, he simply shrugged and offered the 2 Series coupe and convertible range as an example of BMW products that have no direct rival in the local market, just as BMW won't furnish a direct competitor for CLA.

"Never say never," he did reply, however, when asked to confirm categorically the 1 Series sedan will never be sold here. 

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Written byKen Gratton
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