{"id":23153,"date":"2022-05-26T09:03:44","date_gmt":"2022-05-26T13:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=23153"},"modified":"2022-05-26T09:03:44","modified_gmt":"2022-05-26T13:03:44","slug":"bmw-xm-why-suv-not-coupe-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=23153","title":{"rendered":"Here’s why BMW M’s next standalone car is an SUV, not a coupe"},"content":{"rendered":"

BMW M’s<\/a> first standalone model since the M1<\/a> released in 1978 will be a big SUV called XM<\/a>, and is due out before the end of 2022. While that might sound like a surprising move, especially considering some of the heritage-laced concepts<\/a> that BMW<\/a> has unveiled in the past decade, company boss Frank van Meel argued that there is a good reason for launching an SUV rather than making another high-power coupe.<\/p>\n

“When we did the M1, every car company that wanted to say ‘I have something special’ built a sports car<\/a> \u2014 that was the segment everyone wanted to enter. If you look today at the biggest, most important, and fastest-growing segment, it’s clearly the SUV segment. And, in comparison to other manufacturers, we were still lacking this ultimate expressive luxury flagship at the top of M,” he told Autoblog<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Unveiled as a close-to-production concept<\/a> in late 2021, and previewed as a close-to-production prototype<\/a> (shown above) in 2022, the XM will stand out with a love-it-or-hate-it exterior design that seemingly won’t change much as it transitions from the show floor to the showroom floor. Living up to its positioning as the range-topping M model will require a significant amount of power, and it sounds like BMW will deliver. Power will come from a gasoline-electric plug-in hybrid<\/a> powertrain built around a new V8 engine, tuned to develop 650 horsepower.<\/p>\n

Here again, van Meel pointed out that the drivetrain is closer to M’s heritage than it might initially seem.<\/p>\n

“In our 50-year heritage, we’ve always looked at racing and series-production cars to see where each one is going and what they can learn from each other. We’re continuing this with the XM: it has a V8-electric plug-in hybrid system and [our upcoming entry<\/a> into the LMDh prototype category] also has a V8-hybrid drivetrain. You can see that when it works for racing, it also works for the high-performance cars.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some purists will argue that a coupe with a mid-mounted engine would have been more fitting. Blame the buyers, in this case.<\/p>\n

“Of course, there is the Mercedes-AMG G63<\/a>, the Lamborghini Urus<\/a>, the Aston Martin DBX<\/a>, and so on. You see all of these high-end, very expressive models. For the customers, this is something that has been missing at M. That was the biggest demand,” he concluded.<\/p>\n

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