BMW's 326-hp M135i hot hatch is the best BMW you can't buy

BMW ended 2014 as the most popular luxury car brand in America, a position it's held now for three of the past four years. Much of that has come from growing into every heard-of type of vehicle and a few unheard-of ones as well; the lineup now stretches from a $30,000 X1 crossover to a $111,000 M6 sedan. The largest BMW factory in the world sits in South Carolina, and every model BMW sells in Europe it sells here as well — with one fast exception.

Today, BMW unveiled new versions of its 1-Series hatchbacks, rear-wheel-drive cars the size of the Ford Focus that serve as entry-level vehicles in Europe. BMW sold the coupe and convertible versions of the 1-Series in the United States from 2011 to 2013, but now uses the more expressive 2-Series coupe and convertibles in their place. If it tried to sell some of the lower trim levels of the new 1-Series here, like those with cloth seats and a 136-hp engine, there would be cross-shopping with cars like the $27,000 Ford Focus Titanium, and that's just not worth the tiny profit, if any, BMW could make.