The BMW XM is inching closer to its official debut, and we have a big scoop regarding the way it looks. Several leaks have happened, which reveal an aggressive design of a potential new super-SUV king which could easily compete with the Lamborghini Urus.
In the last few years, SUVs have become one of the best ways to immediately blow a lot of money. The Rolls-Royce Cullinan usually costs as much as the best V12 supercars while the Lamborghini Urus sells by the bucketload. BMW, believe it or not, could have the next big thing thanks to the arrival of the XM.
We all know about the BMW M1, the company’s one and only supercar which wasn’t all that successful. However, there is every indication that the XM will be a super-SUV to rival the Italians and British. It’s going to live at the top of the BMW lineup and will deliver significantly more performance than an X5/X6 M, probably costing around $200,000 as well.
The XM was previewed in November 2021 by a concept under the same name. During that time, we’ve been gathering information while prototype testing continued in Germany. As the official reveal nears, BMW saw the need to protect its flagship’s design using patent images, which have landed in the hands of iXForums.
These patent photos suggest its design retains all the major features but is slightly less extreme. Bold grilles have an octagonal design and are flanked by quad headlights which look similar to the 7 Series and i7. For reference, the Concept XM had a bigger grille and four triangular lights.
Also, the patent images show normal door handles have been installed. Obviously, BMW could have sourced flat-fitting ones like Range Rover or Tesla, but those features have been criticized by some. When viewed from the back, the long wheelbase of this performance SUV is quite obvious, as is the slope of the roof. It’s a coupe-like vehicle, but more along the lines of the Velar.
Vertically-stacked exhaust tips look nothing like those of other BMW M products. They’d be an exact copy of the Lexus F design were it not for the rectangular tips.
Using these exact leaked images, the website Kolesa was able to render out a set of realistic photos of the BMW XM as it will look in real life. The factory-fitted widebody kit is quite obvious, as is the flagship ambition of this vehicle.
The BMW XM will be the first plug-in hybrid M car. In concept form, this promised to be a combination of the latest twin-turbo 4.4-liter and an electric motor producing a combined 750 horsepower. That’s more than any other super SUV. However, the Ferrari Purosangue might rival that number with its V12, while two other German automakers have similar powertrains, Mercedes-AMG (GT 63 4-door with its 831 hp) and Porsche (Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid with 671 hp).
As long as it’s priced slightly below the Urus, we bet people are going to love the BMW XM.
