KEY POINTS:
There's a way to make the ghastly looking BMW 1-series hatchback look quite stylish - take two of the doors away and remove the roof.
For whatever reason, the roofless profile and flush rear deck of the new 1-series convertible take it from ugly duckling to design smarts.
Best of all, it's arrived just in time for winter - so often the case with a car market at the opposite end of the world from most of the car industry.
The 1-series compact convertible will slot in underneath the familiar 3-series. It has a fabric roof instead of the larger car's folding hard-top, but the 1-series picks up some of the more clever design features from big brother.
BMW's so-called Sun Reflective Technology is used on the leather upholstery - it's claimed to reduce the heating effect on the seat facings by reflecting the sun's rays.
The climate control air con goes into a special open-top mode automatically and there's a load-through facility from the boot to the cabin.
Predictably, BMW claims the car can carry two sets of golf clubs (or two snowboards).
The 1-series also introduces a new feature of its own. The fabric roof can be specified in anthracite finish with a silver effect - for an extra $250 the roof material can be interwoven with fine metallic fibres that produce striking reflections in the sunlight.
So yes, it's mostly about show, most convertibles are. But the 1-series should offer some decent go as well.
The entry $56,000 120i version gets a 2.0-litre 115kW engine, while the range-topping (and expensive) $86,500 135i model gets the 3.0-litre twin-turbo six from the 3-series.
With 225kW under the bonnet, the compact-convertible gets to 100km/h in an astonishing 5.8 seconds.
There's another way to make the 1-series stylish and cool - turn it into a squared-off coupe that looks like the iconic 2002 of the 1970s, and ensure you keep the mad twin-turbo engine.
But more about that another week.
