Aimed squarely at the compact crossover market, BMW’s new X1 is going to sell well and you’ll be seeing a lot of them close-up – in your rear view mirror.

The new BMW X1

The BMW X1 has new styling and the cabin has been improved too plus BMW says the rear-wheel drive range will only be powered by diesel engines. There’s even an impressive new eight-speed automatic gearbox available.

For the petrolheads out there who like to know, BMW says: ‘The diesel power engines are based on the latest 1,995cc, all-aluminium BMW four-cylinder unit featuring common-rail direct fuel injection and BMW’s TwinPower Turbo technology.’

For a diesel engine the sDrive model will reach 0-62mph in a fairly decent time of 9.6 seconds and has a top speed of 125mph. You can expect fuel consumption of 56.5mpg.

BMW claims its original launch of the BMW X1 nearly three years ago created the compact crossover segment and you’ll be pleased to know that two golf bags can be stowed in the boot with the central section of the seatback lowered (or, as BMW helpfully point out to its potential buyers: two snowboards or four pairs of skis).

Priced from £24,660 for the BMW X1 sDrive18d, the new model goes on sale from July but I’m guessing that the BMW X1 will be cheaper to own via a leasing package than buying one outright.