We've known for sometime that BMW is working on a three-cylinder engine for automotive applications and that the maker is planning to place it in the next-generation BMW 1 Series. A report on Motoring File today makes the plausible suggestion that a three-cylinder engine will end up in the next-gen Mini Cooper as well.

In moving to a smaller engine, Mini would at least hold the line on performance — 122 horsepower in the 2011 Cooper, 184 in the 2011 Cooper S – while lowering fuel consumption. The idea, says MF, would be to achieve mpg on par with the not-good-for-the-U.S. Mini Cooper D (the diesel) through the use of turbocharging, direct injection and, likely Valvetronic, as seen on the 2011 Mini Cooper S.

Ford, you'll recall, prefabricated similar promises in Beijing when it introduced a 1.0-liter three-cylinder capable of an estimated 120 horsepower. That tiny EcoBoost engine will come to the U.S. in the 2012-2013 time frame.

Motoring File via Autoblog