BMW has pulled the sheet on its Concept Active Tourer at the Paris Motor Show. A preview to a future production model, the Active Tourer will eventually become the German automaker's first-ever compact MPV model.Â
Although not a minivan like rivals from Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz have created in the past, the Concept Active Tourer combines a crossover's high seating position with a decidedly more MPV-like profile. Also unlike any modern BMW before, the Active Tourer sends power to its front wheels instead of the rear wheels.
As a result, its powertrain is mounted transversely, a move that aids interior room. Underneath the cargo floor sits the hybrid's battery pack. The Active Tourer concept car is a plug-in hybrid with a roughly 12.4 mile EV range. Providing additional motivation beyond that point is a 1.5-liter three-cylinder gasoline engine. Uniquely, the electric motor powers the rear axle, which gives the car a quasi all-wheel-drive system. The three-cylinder is derived from the automaker's TwinPower turbocharged inline-six used in cars like the 335i and X5 xDrive35i. Despite the reduced cylinder count, the 1.5-liter unit utilizes a twin-scroll turbochargerÂ
Combined, the two motors provide 190 horsepower (which is essentially equivalent to the company's mainstream inline six-cylinder engine in the mid-1990s). Â Combined with a low vehicle weight, the Active Tourer is said to sprint to 62 mph in fewer than eight seconds before topping out at about 125 mph. Fuel consumption stands at 2.5 liters per 100 km, while CO2 emissions are just 60 g/km.Â
While BMW's characteristic kidney grille is evident up front, the rest of the Active Tourer could almost have come from Opel or Volkswagen. Fortunately, the company's "Hofmeister kink" integrated into the final pillar remains on board.Â
Design elements like open pore laminated wood trim and full grain leather give the car a properly upscale ambience inside. A full-color heads-up dispaly projected on a retracting glass surface between the driver and the bottom of the windshield will show additional information.Â
In the rear seat area, vertical metal tracks integrated into the back of the front seats will let passengers clip on a variety of items, including tablet computers or storage bags.Â
Is the Active Tourer headed to North America? Probably not, but its platform will undoubtedly underpin a new front-drive BMW eventually bound for our shores.Â
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