Beautiful Design BMW Minicar Conceptual Drawing

Despite no official word yet out of Munich, rumors persist that BMW is developing an electric-powered minicar that should be ready by 2012, just in time to meet a California mandate for the production of zero emissions vehicles.

The impending California regulations call for automakers to sell a number of clean vehicles on a credit-based scale that weighs their share of California's new car market and the type of vehicle offered. Although the requirement will focus on zero emissions vehicles powered by electricity and hydrogen, an automaker will also be able to meet the mandate by selling traditional and plug-in hybrids.

Because BMW's market share in the U.S. is relatively small, it won't need to build too many examples of the car, which has yet to be named. BMW has an alphabet soup of monikers in its vault that it acquired when it bought Rover, as well as Isetta, which has been bandied about on the Internet. Other possible names include "Metro," after the Austin Metro, though in the U.S., that name may still be owned by GM from the Geo days, and "City," which would be in keeping with the car's mission as a small, city commuter.

BMW has chosen to develop the car alone rather than with a partner, but the automaker may base its new minicar on Magna Steyr's MILA Alpin Concept, which was shown earlier this year at the Geneva Motor Show, to save money and speed up development. The platform could also be later adapted to develop a more traditional city car powered by an internal combustion engine, possibly one taken from a BMW motorcycle, to compete with the likes of the Volkswagen's up!, Toyota's iQ, and smart in Europe.

VW's up! (which may end up being called Lupo) is expected to be sold worldwide and should arrive in either 2010 or 2011 as a family of vehicles that could eventually include electric and hydrogen fuel cell variants. It's possible that Volkswagen could build a version of the up! along the lines of what BMW is planning to fill its share of the ZEV requirement. Toyota's iQ minicar, on the other hand, is too small to fit a battery pack, but should be a solid competitor in a segment that is sure to grow as gas prices continue to rise. The iQ is likely to go on sale in 2009, but isn't expected to come to the U.S.