BMW’s concept vehicle, the ‘Active Tourer’ is speculated to be renamed as the 1 Series GT whenever its production version rolls off the manufacturing plant. Borrowing traits from the 1 Series, this production vehicle will debut with front-wheel-drive and a three-cylinder engine.
BMW displayed the Concept Active Tourer at the Paris Motor Show in September last year. The vehicle is the first from the German carmaker to get a front-wheel-drive power-train and this engine. Both these changes make the crossover differ from the conventional cars offered by BMW till date.
Ian Robertson, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG and Sales and Marketing head of BMW, confirming the news, said that the production version of the front-wheel-drive Active Tourer will be shown at a motor show “early next year”. He did not mention any particular motor show where the car would be exhibited, however, according to media speculations, Geneva Motor Show could be that platform. The show is scheduled to be held in March 2014.
The BMW 1 Series GT will borrow the turbocharged 1.5-litre three-cylinder engine from the recently unveiled 2014 Mini. This three-cylinder unit is available in two variants- petrol and diesel.
Robertson also confirmed that apart from the 1 Series GT, 11 new models comprising the BMW and Mini range will use this front-wheel-drive platform.
