Yahoo Autos BMW's First Front-Wheel Drive Car Is a Surprise Success
The front-engined, front-wheel drive BMW 2 Series Active Tourer was launched in 2014, built around the Countryman and the fact that minivan buyers don't give a damn about oversteer or anything remotely as childish. What they want is space, practicality, safety, fuel economy, and in case of BMW buyers: a prestigious badge.
The 2 Series Active Tourer has all of that, plus optional all-wheel drive and some electric range in hybrid form. Win? Win.
Based on data compiled by JATO Dynamics, Automotive News Europe reports that despite being the most expensive, the BMW 2 Series is the third most popular minivan in Europe. Only the Citroën C4 Picasso and the Volkswagen Touran managed to beat BMW's 77,664 sales figure in the year to the end of September, by about 10,000 units. Citroën is the reigning minivan veteran of the market, while VW is cheaper. Being a runner-up as the new kid ain't half bad.
Of course, back in 2004, the marketing heads at BMW were busy convincing everybody that their cheapest offering yet, the rather unconventional 1 Series hatchback offers at least as much "sheer driving pleasure" as their bigger models. So, they went photoshopping.
The 2001 Mini Hatch was relatively new then, and while it wasn't bad to drive in Cooper S form, BMW's real front-wheel drive speed machine only arrived in 2006. The first John Cooper Works was limited to 2000 units, built by hand at Bertone in Italy.
From that point on, it became quite obvious that BMW doesn't need any help with front-wheel drive. But it still seemed unlikely that they would ever go as far as putting a BMW badge on a FWD car. When it eventually did so, the 2 Series Active Tourer actually became a breakout success.
Of course, for all those outraged enthusiasts out there, BMW seems to pack a short answer: M2.
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