CarBrandLogos archive · BMW · 2022
The first standalone M car since the M1, and nothing at all like the M1.
Discover the storyPhoto: Alexander-93 · CC BY-SA 4.0
The story
Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the BMW XM, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.
01
BMW built the XM to make a point about what the M division could do on its own, and the point it made was not the one intended.
2023 BMW XM Label Red · MrWalkr · CC BY-SA 4.0
02
It is the first vehicle developed by M from the ground up since the M1 of 1978 — not a hotter version of an existing BMW but its own model, with its own body and its own platform tuning. The powertrain is a plug-in hybrid: a 4.4-litre twin-turbocharged V8 with an electric motor in the gearbox, 653 hp in standard form and 738 in the Label Red, an electric range of around 50 miles, and a kerb weight approaching 2.8 tonnes.
BMW XM 1X7A1504 · Alexander Migl · CC BY-SA 4.0
03
The styling drew the reaction. The vast illuminated grille, the split headlamps and the gold-trimmed Label Red version were designed to be unmissable and duly were, and the car became a reference point in the argument about where BMW's design language had gone.
BMW XM Dashboard, Cape Town · Husskeyy · CC BY-SA 4.0
04
Sales have been well below projection, and BMW has already signalled that the model will not be directly replaced. It stands as the most expensive and least loved thing the division has built — and, awkwardly for a company that measures M by its motorsport, the only one that was never meant to race.
At a glance
Produced
2022–presentEngine
Petrol engineDesigner
Marcus SyringBody
5-door SUVTechnical specification
Badge at launch
This is the marque emblem that accompanied the XM's era. The full identity timeline is documented in the brand archive.
Explore the logo history →Contemporaries from the 2020s
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