Autocar: BMW X4 - don't rule it out
 

Got talking to a number of senior BMW officials this week at the launch of the new Mini Countryman. As we were sitting around in a sweltering Hamburg hotel bar devoid of air conditioning, chat turned to developments in the four-wheel drive ranks, and not surprisingly the subject of the X6 came up.

Criticized at launch for being neither a true off-roader nor a true sportscar, the X6 has now surpassed 80,000 sales worldwide since its launch at the back end of 2008 – and if current sales trends continue it’ll likely end up with over 100,000 by the end of the year.

That’s significantly more than the more conventional 6-series has achieved in the same period. Not bad for a car that many automotive industry analysis said would never sell in great numbers. BMW’s original sales target, by the way, was less than 20,000 per year.

Thing is, the unexpected showroom success of the X6 has left BMW high ups wondering whether they should push ahead with a smaller, more affordable X4 model that has apparently been on the drawing board in Munich for some time now. The BMW officials in Hamburg weren’t saying as much. But reading between the lines, it was clear they were fishing for thoughts on whether such a car warranted inclusion in the company’s future model line-up.

Having now seen the conservative route BMW has taken with the second-generation X3, it appears there could be scope for a more sporting X4 derivative off the same four-wheel drive platform – BMW’s answer to the three-door Range Rover Evoque if you will.

Suffice to say, it would provide BMW with the perfect basis for a X4 M model powered, perhaps, by the upcoming 1-series M Coupe’s 350bhp twin-turbo 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder engine mated to an eight speed automatic – a combination what would likely be a big hit in the US, if nowhere else, admits one BMW manager I spoke to.

Having now concentrated production of the X3, X5 and X6 in the same factory in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the logistics involved in a possible X4 model don’t appear to be a limiting factor.

Most interesting of all, BMW will not deny an X4 is on the way.

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