The German luxury-car manufacturers have been locked in a horsepower war for the past decade. Between Mercedes-Benz'->ke187 AMG->ke8 models, Audi's->ke14 RS cars and BMW's->ke178 M Division cars,->ke546 we're getting more and more powerful sports cars->ke506 coming from Europe. The M Division in particular has proven to be particularly adept at crafting impressive performance upgrades for just about any BMW product. According to comments made by BMW M's CEO Frank van Meel , the next shot to be fired is likely to be an M version of the X3->ke255 compact crossover.->ke288

It makes perfect sense. The X5->ke326 was BMW's first SUV->ke145 (or SAV, as BMW likes to call it--a "sport activity vehicle"), and the 567-horsepower X5 M debuted in 2009, to do battle with an AMG-massaged Mercedes ML-Class, among others. The X3 is came along in 2003 as the second member of BMW's SAV family. Now in its second generation, there's been speculation that the third generation will bring an X3 M variant. If BMW's usual model-introduction practice remains the same, an X3 M might debut some time in 2016 in Europe, with a North American intro following soon after.

Because the BMW's 3.0-liter straight six already fits in the X3, it's very likely that the X3 M will be powered by the 425-horsepower twin-turbo six that powers the M3->ke2366 and M4.->ke4183 Of course, other than the confirmation that an X3 M is coming, all of this is speculation.

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Why it matters

For BMW to keep up with the competition, an X3 M is almost a necessity. An AMG version of the Mercedes GLC-Class->ke4968 could be coming, and Audi has an SQ5 as well.

BMW X3 M

You can read our speculative review here.