BMW has ignored the league of super-SUVs for years. Yes, at the level just below it, the brand dominated with models like the X5, X6 and X7. But now there is the XM: insanely strong, also hearty efficient as desired, moreover the car they should start worrying about in Italy.
A behemoth like the Lamborghini Urus has a twin-blown V8, the fresh Ferrari Purosangue a muddy V12, but these hyper-SUVs do not engage in any kind of durability. BMW takes a different approach. The engineers from Munich know all too well that BMW has long stood for efficient dynamics, or, in other words, sustainable driving pleasure. And so the task was simple: make an SUV that is among the fastest of its kind, but also make sure that consumers can drive its miles cleanly, as desired. So deep in the front of the XM hangs the extensively redesigned 4.4 V8 assisted by two fat horns, supplemented by a 197-hp electric motor, integrated into the eight-speed automatic transmission, bringing a total power output to the wheels of 653 hp. You can get away with that. And if that's not enough, and you have a little patience until after the summer of 2023, go for the XM Label Red with 748 hp and 1,000 Nm of power.
Those are numbers befitting supercars. But in fact, the BMW XM is a supercar and an efficient hybrid in one. By charging the battery (25.7 kWh) of the XM by means of a cable (plug-in), you are able to drive about eighty kilometers completely electrically - in other words, C02-neutral. That's a possibility you don't find in other super-SUVs. If you take a good look at it, on a race track, a challenging curve course or simply on the left lane in Germany, you will experience little resistance. Incidentally, that powerful hybrid powertrain, which allows you to drive some of your daily miles electrically, has the advantage that there is hardly any BPM tax attached to the XM's price. BMW is asking 175,211 euros for the XM with 653 hp. That's priced just a bit differently from those Italian super-SUVs.
This much power naturally requires an innovative suspension. BMW quite deliberately did not opt for air suspension. Steel springs assisted by adaptive dampers keep the body on track at high speed in bends better than an air suspension. Between the rear wheels, BMW has fitted an intelligent and electronically controlled limited slip differential, in order to give the XM handling similar to that of a sports car. We have not yet been able to drive the XM, but did speak with Pieter Nota, the Dutch marketing and sales boss of BMW AG, during the launch of the new BMW. Nota had already driven the XM quite a few miles, as well as the BMW SUV's competitors, and was able to report that the BMW product stands out head and shoulders in terms of handling and sheer power. Production of the 653-hp XM will start this year, with delivery beginning at the end of the first quarter in 2023. Worth the wait, more than!
Count on BMW to provide this powertrain in other models in the future. For example, think of the new BMW M5, and perhaps also in the X5 and X6.
This article was taken from the MASTERS MAGAZINE. The winter issue of MASTERS was created in collaboration with Jordi van den Bussche. Many will know him as YouTuber Kwebbelkop, yet he has been working hard as an entrepreneur for some time, as he reveals in the Big Interview. What's new is that his company JVDB Studios is offering to do social media marketing and short-format content marketing for other companies. "They can also go and figure it out themselves, but we cracked the code." Jordi gives a stage to like-minded entrepreneurs such as Jay-Jay Boske, Demy de Zeeuw, Chahid Charrak and Marcella de Bie, and discusses developments around games, crypto and NFT: "Just as bitcoin turned the financial system upside down, the same will happen with gaming." This extra-thick winter issue also features Lengers' first own ship, an interview with Corendon chief Atilay Uslu, specials on the new BMW 7 Series and Samsung foldables, and - exclusively for MASTERS! - an interview with Max Verstappen.
© 2024 MASTERS EXPO. All rights reserved.
