Rumous have been circulating of a subcompact front wheel drive hot hatch with the BMW name plate called the 0-series. While the Mini brand has done well for BMW spawning a convertible, the Clubman, the ‘Coupe’, and soon to be SUV, it’s still not good enough for some people in that it doesn’t have the BMW badge. Some people just want a BMW in the driveway to show off to the neighbours, don’t you know.

The o-series promises to fix that “problem” and is set to arrive sometime in 2012. It will be the only front-wheel drive model in its lineup and is expected to start below the 1-series. The pic you see above is a rendering of what it will could like, and if I’m honest, it looks pretty damn good.

Still, the 0-series makes as much sense to me as picking Sarah Palin as your running mate. If you can get past its looks, my feeling is that the Mini Cooper in S guise will be the better car and also cheaper to boot, but I challenge BMW to make me eat my words.

[TopSpeed]