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The all-new 2020 BMW 1 Series has been revealed ahead of a public debut in June.

 

The third-generation of the 1 Series hatch signifies the end of rear wheel drive, the car now uses a front wheel drive platform with performance variants using BMW’s xDrive intelligent all-wheel drive system.

 

BMW will offer the new 1 Series exclusively as a five-door model which measures in at 4319mm long, 1799mm wide and 1434mm high with a 2670mm wheelbase. When compared to the outgoing model, the new car is 5mm shorter, 34mm wider and 13mm taller with an extra 20mm on the wheelbase.

 

According to BMW, adopting a front wheel drive architecture opens up significantly more space than its predecessor. BMW claims rear passengers will enjoy an additional 33mm of knee room, 19mm of headroom and 13mm of elbow room. 

 

The load compartment capacity of 380 litres is 20 litres up on the outgoing car, and folding down the rear seats increases this to 1200 litres. Also, the minimum width of the boot has increased by 67mm.

 

Visually, the new 1 Series gets a long nose, larger kidney grille (hopefully this trend will get old quickly) and a wedge-shaped body and slim windows with the traditional Hofmeister kink at the C-pillar.

 

Standard kit on European delivered cars includes autonomous emergency braking, lane departure warning and rear cross-traffic alert.

  

Adaptive cruise control with stop & go, parking assist, front and rear parking sensors, wireless smartphone charging and Harman/Kardon audio will be available across the range.

 

Higher grades will get a redesigned panoramic roof, a powered tailgate, a full-colour 9.2-inch head-up display, a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster and a 10.25-inch infotainment touchscreen running BMW’s new Operating System 7.0.

 

At launch, European buyers get a choice of three diesel and two petrol engines. The diesel options consist of the 85kW/270Nm 116d, 110kW/350Nm 118d and the 140kW/400Nm 120d xDrive.

 

Those wanting petrol power can opt for the 118i which uses a 1.5-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine that produces 103kW/220Nm, or the range-topping M135i xDrive which gets a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder unit developing 225kW/450Nm.

 

The 116d, 118d and 118i come standard with a six-speed manual gearbox, with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic available as an option on the 116d and 118i.

 

An eight-speed automatic transmission is optionally available on the 118d and standard on the 120d xDrive and M135i xDrive.

 

BMW Australia is yet to confirm when the new 1 Series will be available locally.