Euro families wooed by BMW’s new seven seater

BMW has stretched its front-wheel-drive 2 Series Active Tourer to create a segment-first seven-seat compact family wagon, the 2 Series Gran Tourer.

But the new niche model is not destined for Australia unless BMW dealers report a chorus of requests from would-be customers.

BMW Australia general manager corporate communications Lenore Fletcher told GoAuto that the company had no plans to add the Gran Tourer to its line-up.

She said BMW had just launched the 2 Series Active Tourer in Australia, and at this stage preferred to concentrate on that variant.

“But if there was marked interest from our customer base, then it (Gran Tourer) might be considered in future,” she said.

Right now, BMW’s only seven-seat choice is the X5 large SUV with the $4600 third row option.

At 4556mm long and 1608mm tall, the 2 Series Gran Tourer is 214mm longer and 23mm taller than the standard Active Tourer that arrived in Australia in November to take on Mercedes-Benz’s B-Class.

Described by BMW as the world’s first seven-seat premium compact model, the 2 Series Gran Tourer is armed with a similar choice of drivetrains to its stablemate.

Images of the Gran Tourer show a stretched back door with an extra window, indicating a longer wheelbase than the 2670mm base of the already-spacious Active Tourer.

Both cars sit on BMW Group’s first front-wheel-drive platform, dubbed UKL1, that also spawned the new Mini range.

BMW has indicated it will roll out a whole family of models on the flexible architecture.

In Europe, Gran Tourer buyers will be able to choose between five- and seven-seat variants, and between front-wheel drive and xDrive all-wheel drive.

The optional third row of seats can be folded into the floor to create up to 805 litres of luggage space behind the sliding second row that splits 40:20:40 and folds away to liberate up to 1905 litres of cargo room.

Fold-out tables are provided on the back of the middle row seats for children in the rear-most seats, along with three child seat anchorages for the middle row.

A built-in app – called MyKidio – supplies kid-friendly videos, audio books and plays for children in the back rows to play on tablets.

Four Gran Tourer model specifications have been announced in Germany – Standard, Advantage, Sport Line and Luxury Line. As well, an M Sport package adds extras including an aerodynamics package, M Sport seats and steering wheel.