BMW 1 Series – One Million built

BMW 1-Series One Million Sold

That new BMW. You know, the little one that’ll never sell. The one BMW plans on mopping up sales to wannabe 3 Series owner with? Well it’s not new any more. In fact it’s been around for five years. And BMW have now built one million BMW 1-Series.

It’s hard to get your head round that sort of volume from a premium manufacturer. We reported earlier today on Bentley’s hopes to one day get back to the heady heights of 10,000 cars a year. BMW are producing that many 1-Series a fortnight. Not that I’m comparing the two, it’s just a million is an astonishing number of cars. If you averaged the price charged for each car at £20k, that means sales of £20 billion. Just from the 1-Series.

The success of the 1-Series owes much to the wide range of models and price points on offer. You can have your 1-Series as a 3-door, 5-door, Coupe or Convertible, with models from the 116d to the 135i, and prices from £17k to £34k. A car for every buyer.

It would be nice to say that the success of the 1-Series owes much to the fact that it’s the only rear wheel drive car in its class. Which it is. And that makes it a more entertaining drive. But a recent poll demonstrated that the RWD platform is a minor point. It appears that 80% of 1-Series owners think their car is FWD. Oh, dear. But it probably alleviates a chunk of concerns BMW may have had about their plans for a range of FWD cars.

Still, one million sales is a big deal so BMW have been celebrating this week at the Leipzig Motor Show by delivering a commemorative model – a three-door 118d – to its owner.

And it didn’t have to come far – all 1-Series BMWs are built at BMW’s Leipzig factory.

By Cars UK