BMW CONCEPT ACTIVE TOURER

The front-wheel-drive BMW Concept Active Tourer has debuted at Paris. The BMW Concept Active Tourer (CAT) was the centrepiece of BMW’s Paris Motor Show stand. While it’s a concept in name, the CAT previews the first front-wheel-drive BMW production cars, which will arrive in late 2014.

The Concept Active Tourer is aimed straight at the Mercedes B-Class. it’s a five-seater and almost the same size as the Mercedes, at 4,353mm long, 1,834mm wide and 1,560mm tall.

Importantly, the CAT is designed so that, despite using the same platform and engines, it won’t steal sales from the all-new MINI, which debuts at the end of 2013.The new engine layout means there’s no need for a long bonnet, and it's also brought about some careful rethinking of the traditional BMW design language for the Concept Active Tourer.

To give the car a sporty stance, the BMW kidney grille is tilted forward, while the headlights are swept back and flow out to the flared wheelarches, which cover 20-inch wheels.The glasshouse has been moved forward, to give more interior space, but the traditional upswept windowline and kink are present. Tail-lights reminiscent of those on the 6 Series and a short overhang complete the look.

Inside, the dash is still angled towards the driver, but the area ahead of the front-seat passenger is curved up to the windscreen, allowing more light in.

The front seats are mounted high for good all-round visibility, while the rears split 40:20:40 for maximum practicality.Neat tech touches include a full-colour head-up display, black panel dials from the 7 Series and a central 10.25-inch multifunction display screen.

A novel concept idea is the ‘cool shade’ panoramic roof. This is made of two sheets of glass with a particle film suspended between them. It can be switched from opaque to clear at the touch of a button.

BMW is easing purists into the switch to front-wheel drive by showing the CAT with a plug-in hybrid powertrain as seen in the i8 supercar concept. The 134bhp 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbocharged engine drives the front wheels, while the rears are boosted by a 67bhp electric motor.

The system switches automatically between petrol power, electric power alone – which gives a range of around 19 miles – or both in tandem, for 200Nm of torque and quick acceleration.

This allows the CAT to sprint from 0-62mph in less than eight seconds and hit a top speed of more than 120mph, while also returning a claimed average of 113mpg and emitting less than 60g/km of CO2.Economy is further boosted by the hybrid system getting information from the sat-nav, automatically switching to the most efficient drive source for the planned route.

The concept features three driving modes – Comfort, Sport and Eco Pro. In the latter mode, the sat-nav also includes preview assistant, which gives the driver tips such as “remove foot from accelerator” if a tight bend or speed limit is approaching.

The CAT will form the basis of BMW’s first front-wheel-drive car, which will be available with petrol, diesel and hybrid engines. A five-seat model will arrive first, followed by a seven-seater.

The car’s name is currently being decided, with 1 Series GT a possibility. However, as the CAT breaks from the BMW norm so much, an all-new naming structure is also being considered.

BMW’s STARTING A NEW ECO-BRAND. WHAT GIVES ?

WHAT’S BEHIND THE NEW NAME FOR BMW’S FORTHCOMING ELECTRIC CAR?

The latest off BMW's concept assembly line is a stubby, decidedly unsexy eco-car equal parts Mini, VW bug, and Trabi -- that's getting its very own sub-brand. They call it the Megacity Vehicle or MCV, and its latest design was just revealed last week.

It's an all-electric car--similar to the Nissan Leaf or the Chevy Volt--and as the name suggests, it's designed explicitly to putter around big cities (just like Ford's newest concept). The details of its design are murky, but what we do know is this: It'll be a rear-wheel four-seater. It'll have a lightweight carbon fiber reinforced plastic body to offset the heft of the battery. And, unlike most of BMW's green concept cars (see here and here) it'll actually be mass produced.

Obviously, BMW is known for its sexy, high-performance wheels, and obviously, the Megacity Vehicle is something of a departure -- and not in the cool, arthouse way of the Chris Bangle era. If the renderings are any indication, the MCV is cool but a tad safe. And maybe that's the point.

The car is the direct product of market research on city dwellers, who are expected to make up more than 70 percent of the global population by 2050. BMW is recognizing that it needs to change course to respond to a shifting demographic. As the company's design director, Adrian Van Hooydonk, told Wallpaper: "The car will be attractive but not controversial" which is the car-world equivalent of calling a girl "nice."

That brings us back to the sub-brand. Is it really necessary? Van Hooydonk goes on to say that it "offers a chance to innovate as well as feature BMW's customary design quality and detailing." Reading between the lines, he might be alluding to idea that the BMW brand itself limits the scope of the kind of green vehicles the company can produce. If BMW is going to stretch its appeal beyond law-firm partners and i-bankers to bleeding-heart city folks (still rich, but blessed with a soul), it'll have to add another dimension to its playboy image. Or maybe BMW's merely creating a pleasant little ghetto for its crunchier endeavors, at a safe remove from the company's standard fare. 

It's salient to note that this sort of sub-brand strategy has worked pretty well for BMW already, with the Mini brand and it's probably no accident that the MCV looks so much like the Mini in profile. Building these things off of a mini platform would save a lot of money. Whatever the story, we've got until 2013 to mull it over. That's when the car's scheduled to go into production.