{"id":85561,"date":"2026-05-19T00:08:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T04:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=85561"},"modified":"2026-05-19T00:08:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T04:08:01","slug":"bmw-i1-2028-electric-1-series-neue-klasse-rwd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=85561","title":{"rendered":"The Next BMW 1 Series Could Go Electric \u2014 And Rear-Wheel Drive Might Be Back"},"content":{"rendered":"

BMW is preparing to launch the next-generation 1 Series in 2028 as both an electric hatchback and a revised combustion-engined model, with the two variants sitting on entirely different platforms. We\u2019ve previously reported on the electric i1<\/a>, known internally as the NB0 i1 and built on BMW\u2019s Gen6 Neue Klasse architecture. What Autocar<\/em><\/a> has now confirmed is the fuller picture: the combustion-engined 1 Series carries on with the existing UKL2 platform, meaning BMW is effectively running two separate cars under the same nameplate.<\/p>\n

Bernd K\u00f6rber, BMW\u2019s head of product management, has been consistent on why the 1 Series can\u2019t go away. Nearly 200,000 units sold globally last year. Big numbers in Italy, France, and southern Europe generally. \u201cIf you want to be a global player,\u201d he told Autocar<\/em>, \u201cyou have to take care of markets where the share of 1 Series is extremely high.\u201d He also made the generational argument: younger buyers enter the brand here, or they don\u2019t enter at all.<\/p>\n

Two Platforms, Two Characters<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The split platform story is the most important news here. The electric i1 gets the Gen6 architecture, which is rear-biased by design. The combustion-engined car stays on UKL2, which is natively front-wheel drive. So the F40\u2019s front-drive criticism doesn\u2019t go away for the ICE model \u2014 it just becomes irrelevant to the EV, which could offer rear-wheel drive as standard and all-wheel drive on higher-spec variants. The original 1 Series hatchback was rear-wheel drive<\/a>, and that configuration is rumored to come back \u2014 just only on the battery-powered version.<\/p>\n

For the electric i1, we expect a single rear-mounted motor as standard. A more powerful dual-motor all-wheel drive variant is also likely in the books.<\/p>\n

Design and Interior<\/h2>\n

The 1 Series won\u2019t be mistaken for an i3 sedan, according to reports. Instead, the quirky design of a 1 Series could return, even in the EV form. Expect to see a design language inspired by the Neue Klasse styling.\u00a0Inside, the next-generation 1 Series gets the full Neue Klasse treatment regardless of powertrain \u2014 the 17.9-inch slanted central screen and 43.3-inch Panoramic iDrive unit in place of a conventional instrument cluster.<\/p>\n

Production is rumored to start in late 2028. The BMW i2<\/a>, expected as a Gran Coupe, follows shortly after. The current F40 runs through 2027 or early 2028. [Top Rendering: instagram.com\/theottle<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BMW is preparing to launch the next-generation 1 Series in 2028 as both an electric hatchback and a revised combustion-engined model, with the two variants sitting on entirely different platforms. We\u2019ve previously reported on the electric i1, known internally as the NB0 i1 and built on BMW\u2019s Gen6 Neue Klasse architecture. What Autocar has now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":85562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/85562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}