BMW XM Concept: a oversized plug-in hybrid SUV

Its grilles, its template, its power… everything is exaggerated in the SUV concept that BMW presented at the international contemporary art fair “Art Basel Miami Beach”.

In the history of BMW, the M1 from 1978 holds a special place. The only model fully developed by the company’s Motorsport department, this very beautiful sports car competed at the time with Porsche 911 or Ferrari 308. It took more than 40 years to discover a second 100% BMW M model, and the least we can say is that it has absolutely nothing to do with the first.

This large ultra-sporty SUV, whose name strangely echoes that of a Citroën sedan from the late 1980s, features a caricatured grille and sharply cut lines. Beneath this body, which is much discussed and disheartens purists, lies a hybrid rechargeable V8 with 750 hp and 1000 Nm of torque. While BMW now offers a sedan and two fully electric SUVs in its lineup, the Motorsport department prefers to keep an internal combustion engine in the mix.

For now, the XM is a show car. Its production version will arrive next year, celebrating the 50th anniversary of BMW’s Motorsport department. The XM will challenge the world’s most high-performance SUVs, such as the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid and Lamborghini Urus among others. In this category, piston engines still seem to have an optimistic future ahead even if electrification will soon affect all models.