Even though the BMW 2 Series was launched in 2014, it seems that the Bavarian carmaker is already hard at work testing some improvements to its smallest coupe. YouTube user Fred Khaz was recently minding his own business on an American highway when he came across a camouflaged 2 Series coupe that obviously stood out in traffic, so he decided to film it. As you can see from the resulting video above, it doesn't seem that the model has any visual upgrades under that rather heavy camo, which in theory could only mean one of two things.
A first glance I would say that this is an old pre-production prototype that is simply being transported under its own power toward a BMW->ke178 R&D center, something which is actually highly unlikely given how little time it has been on the market already. A much more probable guess would be that this prototype features some upcoming improvements to the 2 Series lineup. Since a new turbocharged, three-cylinder, gasoline engine has been recently added for the entry-level 218i model in Europe, with deliveries starting in March 2015, it could mean that BMW wants to test this version on U.S. soil as well.
This is no new and fancy engine either, as this 1.5-liter, 136 horsepower three-cylinder is actually borrowed from the latest MINI->ke57, where it is fitted transversally as it powers the front wheels. If BMW decides to bring it to the U.S. as well it would make for the cheapest entry-level Bimmer in the current lineup. The current cheapest is the 228i Coupe, which starts at $32,100 MSRP.