When BMW unveiled the XM Concept back in 2021 it announced the production version will follow in just a few years. BMW has been testing prototypes of the production version for quite some time now, and today our spy photographers managed to spot another one out in the wild. It is the most revealing prototype so far, showing more details of its future and aggressive design.

Update 9-7-2022: The BMW XM was spied on the road once again. See the new images below.

Spy Shots: BMW XM 9-7-2022

Images shown above are courtest of CarPix

Original Story

The future XM will be BMW M’s first standalone vehicle since the M1 sportscar in 1978. In a previous interview with Autoblog, BMW M’s CEO, Frank van Meel, said: "When we did the M1, every car company that wanted to say ’I have something special’ built a sports car — that was the segment everyone wanted to enter. If you look today at the biggest, most important, and fastest-growing segment, it’s clearly the SUV segment." This means that you can look at the XM as a successor to the M1 supercar.

But, while BMW is following the trend by building SUVs, it won't do the same when it comes to the powertrain. While the world today is focused on building electric cars, the XM will not be electric. It will however be electrified: the model will be powered by a V-8 engine paired with a newly developed M plug-in hybrid system. In the base form, the system will deliver a total of 644 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque, while in the Competition version it will be increased to 750 horsepower and 737 pound-feet of torque. These numbers will dethrone models like the Aston Martin DBX 707 – at the moment the most powerful, fastest luxury SUV. BMW promises an electric range of 30 miles and a 0 to 60 mph sprint time of 3.7-4.0 seconds.

When it comes to its design, spy shots confirmed the production version will follow the lines of the concept car. The exterior will be like no other BMW offered before, but there is one element that follows the latest trend: its huge grille – maybe the largest we’ve seen so far. The new spy shots actually give us a closer look to it with very little camouflage. It also gets very clear that the production version will retain the two-part headlights we’ve seen in the XM Concept, while the rear lights will have a simple, linear design.

The new BMW XM will be unveiled in the summer of 2022 as part of BMW M’s 50th anniversary. Production was confirmed to start in December 2022.