BMW is plotting an SUV boom before the decade is out, and one piece of the jigsaw will be a new X4 coupe, snapped here by our spy photographers for the first time ahead of its anticipated debut in 2018.
Last year BMW sold almost 60,000 X4s – a small proportion of the marque’s output of 2 million, but ultimately a growing one, up 5.5 per cent from 2015.
The pictures reveal a modernised design for BMW’s mid-sized coupe SUV, introducing a smoother look. At the front, new kidney grilles are used in tandem with new headlights, while the noticeable kinks and curves running down the side of the current model have been toned down. At the rear, a new tailgate with the BMW badge in the middle is present, while the licence plate now sits low and on the rear bumper.
The X4 is still a relatively fresh addition to the BMW range too. The current model only arrived on sale in 2014, so to see BMW weighing up a replacement after just three years on sale may seem odd. However, it is worth remembering that the X3 underpinnings the X4 is based on are seven years old.
We also already know that BMW is hard at work preparing a next generation X3 with a new, lighter platform, which we should see uncovered before the year is out. As such, an X4 adopting the fresh chassis and powertrain options in 2018 makes sense.
The new lightweight rear-wheel-drive platform heading the way of the X3 is said to be up to 100kg lighter than the one used on the current car, while being a little longer too for improved passenger space. Expect these traits to carry over to the X4, despite the car’s rakish profile.
In terms of powertrains, the new platform opens the door for plug-in hybrid technology. The most likely candidate here would be the 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol and electric motor setup from the current 330e saloon, developing 249bhp and enabling a claimed all-electric range of around 30 miles.
Diesel powertrains carried over from the X3 will make use of a new 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine, while a sporty, M-division tweaked model could arrive too, should spy shots of the X3 undergoing evaluation at the Nurburgring translate into a performance variant of that car.
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