More spy photos: BMW 1 Series on the 'Ring

Nice looking car. Supposedly it's over a foot shorter than the behemoth e90 (3 series).

Kinda "plump" looking for Bimmer but proportion can make anything look good. Im still wondering what engines it will offer. An I35 Sport would be absolutely sick!

While it is likely that those black stipes are part of what our blogger calls, "little camoflauge," when I first had a look at these two pictures I was stricken by a decidedly un-BMW aethetic. The scary part is, I like the idea of a stripes package on this car, if they look, with adjustment and a little retooling, like the tape as it is in these pictures.
 
"If lovin' you is wrong, I don't wanna be right..."

aesthetic, sorry guys

Am I the only one in the US interested in a more practical 1 series? I'd like a 3 or 5 door hatch/wagon w/e with a peppy, economical I-4 gas or diesel, or maybe a 3.0 I-6 non-turbo. Do you hear me BMW?

bbechtel16 --> ditto. I seem to be among the (apparent?) minority of Americans that actually prefer hot hatches to hot "small sedans". (influence from the '87 Civic Si 3-door I drove throughout my college/grad school years I'm sure)
 
I've looked at several different shots of the upcoming US 1-series, and to me it screams "I wanted a 3-series coupe but couldn't afford one". Whereas a 3-door or 5-door 1-series would have strongly stood out with its own design language and, in my mind, could be viewed as a sexy (and quasi-practical, altho I've read the posts on lack of storage space even in the hatch) little automobile in its own right.
 
And before people start posting about how they make enough money to buy two 3-series if they wanted to, but it's all about weight and consciously choosing the lightest BMW possible, etc... Hey, I'm not looking to stuff my opinion down anyone's throat.
 
But after a good, honest attempt to see the appeal of the US 1-series sedan over a Euro 3-door/5-door... I don't get it. Wish the Euro models had been brought over instead. (but I do hold out hope that if I see one in the flesh the "couldn't afford a 3-series coupe" mental image will dissipate... right now it's all I can think of when I see the shots.)

I overstated one thing above. It's going too far to say I prefer small hatchbacks to small sedans 100% of the time, but rather "I like hot hatches and see a viable market for them in the US" (and not to say I don't equally like a well-executed small sports sedan).
 
Case in point: I don't like the 08 Impreza WRX STI hatch design... would have liked to see it remain a sedan.
 
So maybe my "bleh" response to the US-spec 1-series is that I already had, and enjoyed, a mental image of a 1-series as a hatchback design.
 
And ditto for the '08 Impreza... I mentally associated that with a sedan design, and I'm not fond of seeing it as a "me-too" hatchback now. (don't see much original in that design)
 
So could the message here be: hey designers, don't fix the design if it ain't broke? :)

Apparently BMW tried a hatch version of one of their cars here, and it was a flop.
USA'ers love sedans and trunks - VW sells more Jettas than Golfs here, while in Europe it's the other way around.
Perhaps if Audi imported the A3 as a sedan or coupe, they would sell vastly more numbers of them?
 
As for the Impreza, glad to see they've offered the hatch (more like a short wagon).

kurt,
 
BMW tried the I-4 approach too and it failed. The 1 series will still have an I-4 though.
 
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Bbechtel already knows this, but I want the 5-door hatch as well. So I'm praying for one too.
 
I think hatches have become more acceptable in the US in recent years. I see an awful lot of Mazda3 5-doors around. The Vibe/Matrix is a decent success. The xA (now the xD) and the xB are rave hits. And now the Imprezza will be offered as a hatch. Not to mention the growing warmth of Americans towards wagons. The Magnum, Mazda6, Legacy/Outback, etc are all good sellers, albeit not extraordinary.
 
Personally, I think BMW is out of touch a bit with what the American consumer wants. Karl interviewed the head of BMW NA and offered up some of our questions (if anyone remembers). My question was why doesn't BMW offer more wagons in the US and if they have a plan on offering/introducing more here. The answer I got was that wagons aren't popular and therefore they only offer them in limited quantities. I know more than a handful of enthusiasts that like hatches/wagons; myself included. If BMW still wants to tout itself as the "ultimate driving machine", they better stop worrying about sales volume and start worrying about how to please their fan base: the car enthusiast.

I'd order a 1 series in sedan/hatch form. I won't do anything beyond test drive a 1/2 series coupe. It's not practical for me.