Listen to the Sounds of BMW's New 1.5-liter Twin-Turbo 3-Cylinder Gasoline Engine on a 1-Series

We have heard the claims repeatedly from BMW's people ever since they announced the development of their brand new series of 1.5-liter TwinPower three-cylinder petrol and diesel engines: these new powerplants will be strong, fuel-efficient and equally important, sound the part.

At the recent Paris Motor Show, BMW sales and marketing boss Ian Robertson told reporters that the new three-cylinder engine “behaves like a six-cylinder, is half-of a six-cylinder and has the noise of a six-cylinder”.

Want more? Here is another quote from BMW regarding the gasoline version of the 1.5-liter twin-turbocharged unit that will be offered in outputs ranging from 120Hp to 220Hp:

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BMW X1 Concept K2 Power Ride and X1 Power Ride Special Edition to Debut at LA Auto Show

At the same time the new X1 compact crossover begins to arrive in U.S. showrooms, BMW announced the development of two special variants named the Concept K2 Power Ride and X1 Power Ride Edition, both of which will receive their world premiere at the 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show at the end of November.

The X1-based Concept K2 Powder Ride was created by BMW in collaboration with winter sport equipment supplier K2 in celebration of their partnership that began in 2009. It blends bespoke exterior and interior features with an exclusive roof structure.

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BMW’s Hybrid Active Tourer Concept is a 1-Series GT in Disguise

If things stayed the same, we would probably still be living in caves – or even worse. Change is inevitable and this stands for car manufacturers, too.

BMW apparently thinks the same way; that’s why the Active Tourer Concept that premiered at the Paris Auto Show toady breaks with the Bavarian carmaker’s tradition by offering front-wheel drive.

The automaker claims that its latest study “offers an initial insight into innovations for the premium compact segment… in terms of both the interior and the drive concept.”

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New BMW Active Tourer Concept Previews the FWD 1-Series Gran Turismo [84 Photos & Videos]

These first official images of BMW's new Active Tourer Concept confirm our suspicions that the photo sourced from the cover of the next issue of Auto Bild magazine that we shared with you earlier today, did indeed show the real thing.

To answer the first question you are most likely to have about the Paris Motor Show-bound Active Tourer study, yes, it is intended for production - likely as a 1-Series model with the Gran Turismo moniker that is used by BMW on its more practical vehicles. One of its more direct rivals will be the Mercedes-Benz B-Class small MPV.

But that's not what makes the Active Tourer Concept really special, what does is its platform that will be shared with the next generation of Mini-branded cars and BMW's decision to break with tradition and enter the realm of front-wheel drive models.

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Is This Image of the BMW Active Sports Tourer Concept, aka the FWD 1-Series GT Real?

You can never be sure with magazine images of future models floating around the internet, but there's something real about this photo of what is described as the BMW Active Sports Tourer Concept and which is sourced from the cover of the next issue of Auto Bild that's due to come out on Friday, September 14.

The German magazine itself has issued a teaser of the upcoming issued but has darkened the car (see image below).

The vehicle pictured here is evidently a concept with the only fake feature we could find being the license plate – a common practice among car magazines in Europe to make readers think that the concept is a production model.

If real, the Active Sports Tourer Concept should be a thinly disguised version of the upcoming BMW 1-Series tall hatchback that may or may not sport the Gran Turismo nameplate when it enters production next year.

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