American buyers may have to wait a little bit longer before sinking their teeth into the upcoming BMW X1. According to Automotive News, the CUV has been more popular in Europe than the German automaker originally anticipated, and as such, BMW is experiencing a bit of a supply crunch. As a result, North American buyers won’t be seeing the X1 at the end of this year as originally expected. Instead, it’s beginning to look like the vehicle won’t show up here until early 2012 at the soonest. Automotive News reports that the X1 went on sale in Europe in November of 2009.
Since then, the high-riding hatch has sold out in every market it’s touched. BMW says that it fully expects the X1 to be a low-volume model here in the land of the free, with sales lodged somewhere in the same realm as what the current 1 Series Coupe and Convertible. Even so, the company says that it’s shooting for around 8,000 units per year. With the larger, more popular X3 just now hitting dealerships, the X1 will likely serve to fill a slot for buyers looking for a compact luxury crossover.
