I'm surprised they won't be bringing the 120i over. Even though it only has 170 hp, that seems like it would be a good starter engine for this smallish car. It just seems odd that you can get a 525 with only 215 horspower, yet the 2-steps down 1 series base engine has 50 more hp.
Maybe they just want to appear "high-end" in the states and would rather have all I6s than any 4 cylinders.