The whole point of a luxury car is that every schmuck doesn't have one. You're not paying for the car so much as you're paying for the badge on the bonnet.
A 1-series hatchback, fair enough. It's a market BMW had never explored, previously dominated by the likes of the VW Golf. That said, the 1-series hatchback was a bit of a flop. You'd be ashamed to say "I have a BMW 1-series" at a dinner party. I can't think of a valid reason to buy one. For the same money you'd just go and buy a Golf R32; which looks a hell of a lot better, and is a whole lot more fun to drive.
BMW have just launched the 1-series coupe. How they've managed to justify this to their accounting department is beyond me. Now all of a sudden, people to whom a 3-series was out of reach to are able to buy a BMW. That means more of them on the road, thus diluting the brand. And people who would have otherwise paid the premium for a 3-series would cheap out and "just get a 1".
The whole appeal of a 3-series coupe is it's small, nimble sports coupe. Guess how they're going to promote the 1-series coupe...
Their ads might as well say "Welcome to BMW: The new Hyundai."