Ain't no fruit sweeter than a forbidden one. Just ask Eve. Fans in the United States get a plethora of BMW 1 Sseries products, including a convertible and the delightful 1M Coupe. They should be content, but then BMW drops this. It's the BMW M135i three-door hatch concept and the yearning begins yet again. Damn you, BMW!
Because it's still a "concept", BMW's content to skimp on the details — this despite everyone and their mother claiming it's a done deal. What we know is this is proof that someone, somewhere inside BMW thinks that taking the popular European hatchback version of the 1 Series and M-fying is a good idea. Probably the same person who still misses the "clownshoe" BMW M Coupe.
BMW starts with the 1 Series three-door hatch and adds a straight-six gasoline engine with a pair of turbos and power output pegged at 300 horsepower (no displacement info is given, but this sounds similar to the N54 3.0-liter). Then they throw in a mix of M-developed suspensions upgrades.
Next comes the M sports braking system and light 18-inch M alloys. To make it look M-ish there are giant intakes upfront and a darkly painted rear apron that screams DTM, to those who know what DTM is. Oh, and lots of swoopy tri-color M paint.
There are a lot of hints from BMW that indicate what we've been repeating from other, more BMW-centric outlets — this is more than just a space filler at next month's Geneva Motor Show.
Here's a key bit from the press release:
Thanks to a distinctively sports-oriented appearance, the BMW Concept M135i offers attractive prospects for the further development of the BMW 1 Series model range. At the same time, a clear signal has been given for the expansion of the new product category of BMW M Performance automobiles.
Unfortunately, nowhere in the press release do I see the worlds "Baseball," "Jesus," "Willie Nelson," or "extra-wide seats" so this little peach is probably just too high on the tree for us Americans to reach. Although I hope I'm wrong.