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The first year 2009 X1 in Europe got a lot of bad feedback for a couple of years. Even Clarkson said it was one of the worst things to come out of BMW. People didn't like the particular diesel engines in the X1 or manual gear box in some reports. Many comments were it didn't act or handle like a BMW should. There were some QA issues as well with things like the trim pieces fitting well and the ride was far to harsh for what people expected from a BMW. The X1 also did horrible compared to Landrover, Audi, and other awd in many tests. Last was that the market for the X1 was being developed and people didn't know what to make of it. SUV's are far less common in Europe and for those that lived somewhere that needed an SUV, the X1 was just to small and useless for many when compared to the X3 or X5, then add all the design flaws and you get a car that was considered a bad car.
The US the market is a little different and more people are interested in the X1 because they want something a little bigger than a compact car, won't be driving on autobahn, sits a little higher off the ground, and appears "offroad'ish" even though it probably won't ever be. The 2013 X1's have been refined a fair bit since 2009 and in the US we get both higher powered petrol engines, bigger brakes and a few other minor changes that are a bonus for us here that you can't get in Europe.
Having said all this, I love the X1 and it's perfect for me in the US. But after putting 1800 miles on it in Europe though, I'd get a 3 series wagon or X3 depending on my needs and not the X1 if I were living over there.
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