BMW plans to expand its hot hatch portfolio with a new generation of the M140i which was caught testing recently at the Nurburgring. In the previous F20 generation, the M140i replaced the M135i in 2016 and ditched the N55 inline 6 engine for the newer B58 inline six.
For the current F40 generation, BMW revived the M135i however the engine was downsized to the B48 inline-4 turbo which produces 306hp and 450nm of torque. It uses an xDrive all wheel drive system which is front wheel biased, rivals include the A35 AMG and the Golf 8 R. An entry level variant called the 128ti is also available, it uses the same B48 turbo-4 engine which has been tuned to produce 265hp and 400nm of torque. Rivals for the 128ti include the Golf 8 GTI and the Mercedes-Benz A250.
The upcoming BMW M140i xDrive will be targeted towards the likes of the A45 AMG, A45 S AMG and the upcoming Audi RS3 Sportback. The engine should receive new parts unique to it and a tune to increase the output to 350-380hp and 500nm of torque. The previous M140i powered by the B58 inline 6 engine had an output of 335hp and 500nm of torque.
