BMW: It's going to be Front Wheel Drive for small cars

The BMW i-Setta - will this be where the new FWD platform gets used firts?

IS BMW's first front wheel drive platform going to show up on project i-setta?

BMW has revealed they are developing a new front wheel drive platform for use in the next gen MINI and a range of smaller BMWs. Project i-setta?

We’ve had Porsche aficionados bemoaning hybrid cars (the Porsche 918 Spyder really gave them something to moan about) and SUVs; we’ve had the Ferrari Luddites bemoan the hybrid Ferrari 599 (even though it gives better performance) and now we’re sure to get the BMW cavemen decry the sacrilege of a front wheel drive BMW. But it’s happening.

BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer today revealed that BMW is planning a new platform for a future MINI (probably due as the 2013 MINI) which will also be utilised by BMW in a range of small cars. Which makes a whole heap of sense. You can’t sensibly have a rear wheel drive small car – certainly not a compact or sub-compact – it’s just a waste of space.

So where, apart from in the MINI range, are we likely to see this platform? Starting point could well be Project i-setta, the revival of the Isetta name and a project BMW have been working on for some time. There have been rumours that the i-setta range could be launched as a shared project with Fiat (with Fiat utilising the Topolino badge) or lately that the i-Setta range could be Aygo-based. The platform could also be used for the Megacity electric / hybrid city car project.

With Norbert Reithofer making it clear today that the platform will also be offered out to partners as well as used by BMW and its existing brands, we could see the FWD BMW platform being utilised by companies such as Peugeot and Citroen, who currently have engine projects with BMW. Perhaps as the basis for the next generation 107 and C1, which are currently Aygo-based.

BMW reckons they will be producing 600-800,000 cars off this platform from within BMW and MINI, never mind what else gets based on it from other manufacturers. Which will certainly drop BMW’s average CO2 figures. Down to as low as 117g/km by the end of this decade, according to BMW today.

Joy. The future is front wheel drive. Apparently.