2012 BMW 3 Series

With the years before the official launch, details around the next generation BMW 3 Series are still sketchy and guarded well behind the Munich HQ gates.

Let’s recap first what we know about the 2012 BMW 3 Series and then go into the latest details revealed by Autocar UK.

The proportions of a typical 3 Series will remain, meaning squat proportions, short rear overhang and wheels placed to each corner. The overall look is slimmer and more toned than the E90.

Rendering – not the actual design
The front of the car receives a widened, but not too large kidney grille , smaller than the F10 5er with shapely lighting units surround the grille.

The rear of the car offers a typical BMW layout with the classic L shape lighting units the larger part of the L shaped lights that sits on the corner and wraps around the rear of the car dips at the lower edge.

Here is an excerpt from the Autocar article posted today:

BMW is poised to completely reinvent the 3-series family for the low-carbon age.

Talking exclusively to Autocar, a senior BMW source revealed that a ground-up rethink of the company’s biggest-selling model will ensure that the next-generation 3-series will “remain relevant even when it goes off sale in 12 years’ time”.

The new 3-series is expected to make its public debut at the 2011 Paris motor show. In its first incarnation, the new model is expected to offer class-leading aerodynamics, with a Cd figure of 0.24, as well as pioneering the use of three-cylinder engines in premium vehicles.

The 3-series is part of a new BMW strategy in which ‘premium’ is defined in terms of environmental compatibility. It is this strategy that has prompted BMW to pull out of Formula One from the end of this year.

Hilton Holloway blog: Premium sustainability

The reinvention will step up a gear in 2016 when the 3-series undergoes a mid-life revamp. This is expected to represent the biggest technological step-change in car design for decades.

Sources say much of the underskin technology — such as the climate control system — will be completely re-engineered. Many of today’s in-car systems have in principle remained unchanged for decades.

Some details are interesting, but at the same time, remember that many of them could be simple rumors or assumptions. More accurate details will start to be revealed next year as the first full test mules will hit the streets.