irishcar.com

4 March 2002: "I want 150 of these for Ireland," quipped Motor Import boss Frank Keane in Geneva tonight as the BMW CS1 concept car was unveiled to an invited gathering of the world's motoring press.

And he wasn't entirely joking. Looking at what is hailed as 'the first view of the new cornerstone' of the future BMW product range, there's no doubt but that as a real car it would sell out of showrooms so fast that its tyres would hardly touch the floor.

The car is in the tradition of the revered 2002 compact sports saloon, the car which reputedly saved BMW from being an also-ran in the motordom stakes.

And irishcar.com heard on the grapevine last night that what we saw is very close to what we'll get when BMW brings this concept to reality.

"Since the 3 Series has grown from model cycle to model cycle, we see a great potential for this new automobile in the compact segment," Dr Burkhard Göschel (pictured above) told us as he officially unveiled the car, in opentop form. "This will enable us to win new, additional clientele for the BMW brand."

The concept is a full four-seater, and its production derivatives will feature slightly longer versions for the US market than will be sold in Europe. A numper of clever details in the concept vehicle includes a clever recessed door handle which pops out when a button is touched.

The car is powered by BMW's 115bhp 1.8-litre fourpot, and power transmission is controlled by the Sequential Manual Gearbox already available in the current 3-Series.

"Yes, I want 150 of these ... a month," Frank Keane updated his earlier comment after spending time around the new concept with colleague Billy O'Riordan.

And he still wasn't joking. Believe it.