This outrageous-looking concept is the BMW Concept XM and it will be coming to life in 2022. Here’s what we know so far.

The last time BMW M made a standalone vehicle, it was the M1 and it was in 1978. It marked the debut of many things, like a mid-engined setup and back then, 201 kW and 329 Nm from a 3.5-litre straight-6 motor made it a bona-fide supercar.

More than 40 years later comes the second standalone BMW M product. Meet the BMW Concept XM, a high-performance hybrid V8 SUV. The claimed engine outputs are jaw-dropping: 551 kW and 1 000 Nm plus, the ability to travel a theoretical range of up to 48 km on pure electric power.

Right now there are no details like the size of the engine or battery pack or even performance details, but given that it is an M product, we reckon that it’ll hit 100 kph in under 4 seconds with ease.

The big question marks here are with regards to the styling. Car design is an entirely subjective affair; one person’s art is another’s trash, and we’ve given BMW some leeway in the past for penning some controversial and polarising designs. Think of that bold grille seen on the current generation of BMW M3 and the overall craziness that is the BMW iX. This, however, looks like something from a futuristic sci-fi movie.

There is a large grille of course, with the two kidney grilles on full display, but its the slim LED-style headlights that are split that have us bewildered. Inside, the cabin is just as wild as the exterior with a driver-orientated setup with some great-looking brown leather trim. On the dashboard, it looks like the latest version of BMW’s iDrive 8 is on offer.

When will the BMW Concept XM go into production?

The BMW Concept XM will be turned into a production version at some point in 2022. We hope that these claimed outputs of this concept will become a reality, making it one of the fastest and cleanest performance SUVs around.

Further Reading

BMW iX Revealed

BMW M8 Convertible Review