Hours after it was officially unveiled, the BMW 1-Series Sedan has been envisioned in a range-topping M guise.

The rendering might seem plausible, but before rubbing your hands and imagining how it would look like in your garage, remember that the standard four-door is a China-only model, likely based on the same UKL1 platform that underpins the 2-Series Gran Tourer and the fresh X1 crossover.

So yes, the prospect of another compact BMW M car is always more than welcome but only if it’s sending its power to the correct axle.

Bavaria’s take on the Audi RS3 Sedan and Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 could, however, come in the form of a 2-Series Gran Coupe. BMW has yet to confirm the reports, but if it’ll get the green light for production, then the car will share the Coupe and Cabriolet’s RWD platform and it could also sport a range-topping M2 Gran Coupe variant.

This model is said to retain the same 3-liter twin-turbo engine from the M2 Coupe, which requires 4.3 seconds to go from rest to sixty (96 km/h) with the automatic transmission and 0.2 seconds more with a manual gearbox. With 365 HP (370 PS) and 343 lb-ft (465 Nm) of torque sitting at its disposal, the two-door compact can keep accelerating up to an electronically capped top speed of 155 mph (250 mph).

Rendering courtesy of X-Tomi

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