It has been known for a while that BMW will be releasing a front-wheel drive variant of the 1-Series.
BMW has just released official details on the car with these shots of the Concept Active Tourer, a front-wheel drive BMW for the complicatedly named luxury compact segment.
As of right now, the Concept Active Tourer is only, as the name says, a concept. And like any good concept these days, it's a hybrid electric car. BMW has dubbed it eDrive, much like they did in the i8 concept.
It's an aggressive and surprisingly attractive car, with a lot of forward facing angles and an angry looking fascia. It is a little bulbous, but it isn't terrifying like the 5-Series GT.
The big news is under the hood. The CAT (that's what we're calling it for short) is a plug in hybrid with a new turbo engine. And it's a 1.5 liter three cylinder.
Whoa, a BMW with front-wheel drive and three cylinders? That's crazy talk!
It can go "well over 20 kilometers" on pure electric, which is about 12 miles.
Now, obviously, a lot of what you see is for the concept, like the interior. But make no mistake, a car that looks very similar to this will almost certainly be going to production in the next couple of years and invading cities near you.
We will see the CAT when it is officially unveiled in Paris in two weeks.