The FWD 1 Series “Compactive Tourer,” - the first model in BMW’s upcoming lineup of FWD 1 series cars, will be making its world public premiere at the 2012 Paris autoshow in late September, but a purported design diagram of its rear lights has now been revealed. The FWD 1 series models ride on the UKL platform, which it will share with the upcoming MINI models. It will hit the market sometime in 2013.

Its tail lights appear to feature the floating light bar design seen in recent BMW models. The circular hole behind the light bars will house the brake light and the holes at the bottom of the lights are likely indicator and reverse bulbs.

The FWD 1-series models will join the rest of the 1-series … CONTINUED

The BMW Group has extended its premium car sharing program DriveNow to the US. DriveNow launched in San Francisco with 70 BMW ActiveE electric vehicles. The innovative mobile parking solution, ParkNow, will debut in the Californian city in September.

Here is a video detailing the DriveNow and ParkNow programs.

On a recent Saturday, 1ADDICTS members visited Manhart Racing GmbH in Wuppertal, near the Essen area in NRW (Western Germany).

The Chef/Boss & Technical Director of Manhart Racing GmbH, Christoph Erfurt showed us around the shop and exlpained in detail any questions we had of their various project cars. While Benedict Spohr the sales manager answered the “how much is THAT” questions.

The Manhart crew could not have been nicer to all ofus 1Addicts. It was a fantastic day with lots of cool cars to droll over. They even let us take turns driving their project 1M! How cool was that! And… we even let them drive some of our highly mod’d 1er’s for their expert opinion.

One thing that I was not aware of is that Manhart also … CONTINUED

Here’s a video summarizing the M135i hatchback [official thread] [reviews].

Although the M135i will not be available in the North American market, it’s recently been rumored that a M235i coupe (2 Series coupe version of the M135i) will be the first M Performance Automobile to be introduced to the US market. Keep in mind that a M235i coupe model will not be a replacement for an expected future M2 coupe model - the successor to the E82 1M Coupe. Instead, it’s a model which can be viewed as the successor to the current 135is coupe, to slot in between the standard 235i coupe and the M2.

The M135i specs and highlights are as follows:

First ever BMW M Performance automobile to feature a petrol engine… CONTINUED

As announced yesterday, BMW’s N20, N54, S65, N18 engines have each picked a best engine award at the 2012 International Engine of the Year Awards [Full Award Results].

Here’s a brief overview of two of the technologies featured in most of the BMW engines available today - TwinPower Turbo and VALVETRONIC (variable valve timing) technology. Valvetronic was first introduced by BMW on the 316ti compact in 2001, and has since often been coupled with BMW’s double-VANOS.

Until 2012, no M model used Valvetronic, but instead continued to feature multiple throttle-bodied designs. The 2012 F10 M5 with its S63 engine is the first M model engine to utilize Valvetronic technology in lieu of the individual throttles found on its equivalents in the BMW X5 M and X6 M. The … CONTINUED

This summer a fleet of golden BMWs is taking to the streets all over the UK in celebration of the 2012 London Olympics. Spot one and you could win tickets to the Olympics. One lucky winner will also receive the Golden Prize – the chance to drive a BMW for a year. The prize includes use of four of the latest models from BMW’s London 2012 fleet.

A pair of tickets to the Olympics will be given out each day leading up to the games (until July 25). Here’s how you can win. Simply spot one of the cars, snap a picture, and share it via twitter (#GoldenBMW) or the BMW website http://www.bmw.co.uk/gold.

Find out if the Golden BMWs are coming to you here www.bmw.co.uk/gold and follow their … CONTINUED

BMW base paint steps for the 1 Series. Display seen at the AMI Leipzig show. This color was Mineral White which is an option for X1s made at Leipzig.

BMW’s six paint stages are:

1) Steel Panel
2) Cathodic Dipping Paint. Rust Protection.
3) Primer coat. Protection against stone-chipping. Color base for base coat.
4) Water based coat of final color. First layer.
5) Water based coat of final color. Second layer.
6) Clear coat. Brilliance and resistance against environmental influence.

We’ve just gotten our hands on some new videos and wallpapers of the F21 3-door 1-series in Estoril Blue. Enjoy!

We’ve now added a spy video of the M135i seen in live action for the first time, as well as an F21 135i 3-door hatchback.

Powered by a 320hp version of the N55 3.0-litre inline 6, the M135i will be the fastest 1-series currently available. As BMW puts it, “moreover, the characteristic handling precision of BMW M Performance automobiles is obtained through model-specific suspension technology that includes an M sports braking system and is perfectly adapted to match the supreme road performance. 18-inch M light alloys with a double spoke design additionally complement the car’s sporting character.”

So we expect the M135i’s performance to come quite close to the already-legendary 1-series M Coupe.