Photo: autocosmos.com.mx
After countless spottings of the X3 M and a number of encounters with the X4 M on the Nurburgring Nordschleife, the real deal has been photographed without camouflage in the Spartanburg factory in South Carolina. The picture, coming courtesy of Auto Cosmos, reveals the rear-end design of the latter model.
Considering that the X4 is manufactured in Spartanburg alongside the X3, X5, X6, and the long-anticipated X7, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this is where the X3 M and X4 M will be assembled when the time comes for BMW to take the veil off. Fitted with a sports exhaust system numbering four tailpipes and the M badge next to X4 on the liftgate, the prototype also appears to sport 21-inch alloy wheels.
The more aggressive diffuser and pumped-up bumper complement the brawnier fender flares. All we know about the front-end design comes from spy photographs of the newcomer, and as you would expect, it’s business as usual for an M model.
The M side mirrors are similar to those of the X5 M and X6 M while the engine comes in the guise of the S58. An inline-six that benefits from turbocharging, the S58 is the M version of the B58 that replaced the N55 starting from 2015.
The S58 is expected to be released in the early part of 2019, and even though there are polarizing views on what technologies are built into the 3.0-liter engine, look forward to anything between 460 and 500 horsepower depending on application. Built onto the CLAR vehicle architecture and coming as standard with a performance-tuned version of the xDrive system, the X4 M won’t be available with a manual transmission.
The ZF 8HP will take care of swapping cogs, automatically or with manual input by means of steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters. For the time being, the biggest rival of the X4 M is the GLC Coupe 63 from Mercedes-AMG. In S configuration, the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 develops 510 horsepower and 700 Nm (516 pound-feet) of torque, which could be too much for BMW to counteract with the S58 in the coupe-ified sport utility vehicle.
The more aggressive diffuser and pumped-up bumper complement the brawnier fender flares. All we know about the front-end design comes from spy photographs of the newcomer, and as you would expect, it’s business as usual for an M model.
The M side mirrors are similar to those of the X5 M and X6 M while the engine comes in the guise of the S58. An inline-six that benefits from turbocharging, the S58 is the M version of the B58 that replaced the N55 starting from 2015.
The S58 is expected to be released in the early part of 2019, and even though there are polarizing views on what technologies are built into the 3.0-liter engine, look forward to anything between 460 and 500 horsepower depending on application. Built onto the CLAR vehicle architecture and coming as standard with a performance-tuned version of the xDrive system, the X4 M won’t be available with a manual transmission.
The ZF 8HP will take care of swapping cogs, automatically or with manual input by means of steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters. For the time being, the biggest rival of the X4 M is the GLC Coupe 63 from Mercedes-AMG. In S configuration, the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 develops 510 horsepower and 700 Nm (516 pound-feet) of torque, which could be too much for BMW to counteract with the S58 in the coupe-ified sport utility vehicle.
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