BMW CAT seven-seater spied

Seven-seat version of front-wheel drive BMW CAT concept spied

This is the seven-seater version of the BMW Concept Active Tourer, first shown at the Paris Motor Show last year.

We’ve already seen the five-seater, which will go on sale early next year, as a concept and a heavily disguised test car, but this larger model – due later in 2014 – hasn’t been seen before.

At the front, both five and seven-seat versions of the car feature a low-set version of BMW’s trademark kidney grille, shortened bonnets and a steeply rising beltline.

However, towards the rear the seven-seat model has a much more vertical rear window to increase boot space, and room for passengers sitting in the two rear-most seats.

The seven-seater model also appears to have a slightly longer rear overhang, and larger rear doors, while both cars have similar rear wings that extend down each side of the rear window to enhance aerodynamic efficiency.

BMW is still deciding what its first front-wheel drive car will be called. Although BMW 1 Series Gran Turismo is the most likely candidate, as it’s a paradigm shift for the firm, BMW is still evaluating a completely different naming strategy.

Whatever it’s called, the new seven-seater will be the third of 11 new models built on the new UKL front-drive platform, after the five-seat version of the CAT that arrives early next year, and the all-new MINI.

The new car will also use BMW’s new modular 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol and diesel engines, while the hybrid system used by the CAT concept is also likely to make production in some form.

Cars

Wednesday, 22 May 2013