BMW X1 Long Wheelbase unveiled at 2016 Beijing Auto Show

BMW has unveiled a long wheelbase version of its X1 crossover for the Chinese market at the 2016 Beijing Auto Show. Dubbed the X1 Long Wheelbase, this car offers more space at the rear and joins a host of extended wheelbase vehicles from various manufacturers that have been created specifically for the Chinese market.

 The X1 LWB is 8 centimetres longer, 2 centimetres wider and 4 centimetres taller than the standard X1. This has added around 18cm to the wheelbase of the car all of which has been put in the second row. This additional space has also translated into a bigger boot of around 675 litres which can be extended to 1650 litres with the seats folded down.

This car will be offered in the XLine and Sport Line Trims whose feature list comprises a vast variety of additional extras like a surround sound system, heads-up display, LED Headlights, auto tail gate function and dynamic damper controls.

The Chinese market will get this extended X1 in three states of tune. The first is the SDrive18Li which is powered by a 1.5-litre three-cylinder petrol mill that produces 136bhp. The SDrive20Li/XDrive20Li is powered by a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine that produces 192bhp. The top-of-the-line XDrive 25Li gets the same engine but now producing 231bhp. The first model gets a six-speed steptronic box while the other two get an eight-speed unit.

The car will be produced at the BMW-Brilliance JV plant in Shenyang and will go on sale later this year. Considering that we have similar buying preferences to the Chinese market, it does not seem out of place for BMW to bring this car to the Indian market.