It’s been a weird half-decade or so for BMW. On the one hand, the brand’s current styling direction has been widely panned, and few current offerings appeal to the sort of lifelong enthusiasts who have always bought BMWs for the way they drive. On the other hand, sales have never been better, with the brand hitting a new record in America last year. Of course, there’s an exception to every rule, and the exception in this case is a six-figure flagship. For 2026, the base BMW XM is dead, and I have a pretty good theory why.
If you aren’t familiar with the BMW XM, there’s likely a pretty good reason for that. It’s BMW’s attempt to grab a slice of the ultra-high-end SUV market, a plug-in hybrid that starts at $161,425 and has drawn media attention for being difficult to look at. From the ridiculously oversized kidney grilles to the bizarre piece of trim down the body side to a general cacophony of visual elements, it achieves the impressive task of making a GMC Hummer EV look tasteful and subdued.
Right out of the gate, we knew the XM was going to be a low-volume, high-margin vehicle, but there’s a good chance sales volumes are even lower than BMW expected. Compared to typical one-percenter SUVs like the Mercedes-Benz G-Class and Range Rover, the XM remains a niche proposition.
Last year, BMW sold 1,974 XMs in America, making it the lowest-volume BMW by a significant margin. It even got out-sold by the Z4 roadster, a car that’s significantly less expensive yet also significantly less practical, playing in a genre that’s usually a household’s second or third car. At that sort of volume, it doesn’t make sense to sell two different power levels at two different price points, so even though the XM is built in America and therefore partially sheltered from the tariff situation, BMW’s aiming for margins and will only sell the more powerful XM Label in America going forward. Other global markets get a six-cylinder plug-in hybrid XM as a base model, but the regular PHEV V8 XM is being discontinued in those markets as well.
Yep, every new V8 XM will soon crank out 738 horsepower from a 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8 mated to a plug-in hybrid powertrain, which is probably the right call considering the base XM was slower than the less expensive X5 M Competition. This is essentially the same powertrain you get in the current M5, so I also wouldn’t be surprised if the M5 Touring is eating into potential XM sales.
In addition to streamlining trim levels, BMW’s making some light updates to the XM Label. The 2026 model gets an upgraded 11 kW onboard AC charger replacing the old 7.4 kW unit, along with some new interior color options including Night Blue with Vintage Coffee accents, Silverstone with black accents, and black with Vintage Coffee accents, a new welcome lighting animation, and Frozen Tanzanite Blue joining the regular options list. Relatively minor stuff aside from the charger upgrade, the sort of changes you’d expect from a low-volume high-margin vehicle that’s only been on sale for a few model years.
Will discontinuing the base XM hurt sales? Probably not enough to financially matter, considering a handful of dealers are offering five-figure discounts, but there is a chance new XMs could be an even rarer sight than they already are. Regardless of how everything shakes out, I have a feeling this will be a weird vehicle to write about in a historical context come 2040 or so.
Top graphic images: BMW
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Mansory XM when 😛
I live not too far from BMW Headquarters in Woodcliff Lake, NJ, and I’ll never forget riding around the parking lots from top to bottom on my bicycle looking at all of the high-performance models (minis as well), and I could not believe the “styling” of the XM. This was about 2 summers ago, and the lot was full of really cool, high-end cars with bright colors….but the XM with the bright red accents and grille surround stopped me in my tracks to the point I almost didn’t unclip from my pedals! I couldn’t believe a design committee signed off on that!
I also see an oversized Urus in the side profile, but me thinks BMW massively misread the market for this.
I don’t think people want any version of that monstrosity.
What the hell did that drive into? It’s the automotive equivalent of talking to someone but not being able to concentrate on what they are saying because they have a piece of spinach on their teeth.
I guess not that many people were hog wild with that front end
Seriously?!? They named a color after what I find in my mug on Monday morning after realizing I forgot to wash it out on Friday afternoon?
I didn’t catch the name. I thought the colour was called Skidmark.
The only one of these I have seen on the road was the literal lipstick on a pig “Red Label” version with the bright red snout outline. Hideous. Caught my eye and dragged it across the road.
LOL!
Looks like this turd’s a double flusher
If you like ultra-high end SUVs that look like squinting pigs and go like snot, have we got a vehicle for you…
That blue is nice, though.
I don’t think it’s that ugly, but it isn’t good looking either. It’s kinda boring and a big flagship shouldn’t be boring to look at
Most large flagship BMWs, MBs, and Audis have been very understated. Only recently have the Germans started making shouty/tacky stuff to draw attention.
Sadly the “new money” that buys them today wants them that way.
Yup. The “new money” has always liked tacky stuff. What BMW and others realized is that selling stuff to “new money” is highly profitable because they don’t care about quality. They just want disposable junk with a “wow” factor. Plus, the “new money” folks from two generations ago raised terrible children who share their taste.
Sad but true. Then add that the youth of today want tech over substance, and today tech is *cheap*, and here we are.
Technology is inexpensive to produce and can yield huge profit margins. Corporations are pushing it more than filling a demand. I’ve seen lots of product development projects where the primary driver is to add “something, anything” that can be marketed as an upgrade or new feature. Its real value is completely meaningless because consumers purchase essentially based on their aspirations. They want the “best” and “newest” because they define themselves by what they consume. The real value is beside the point.
I don’t really care about this car at all, but those exhaust tips are cool looking.
About a year ago, I was listening to a podcast with the director of automotive design at BMW Designworks and he basically ended it with “you don’t have to be into cars to design cars.” I pretty much mentally threw up my hands and shouted “welp, there’s ya problem,” but kept it in because that’s not socially acceptable on a flight. Perhaps it’s oversimplification and general loathing of current BMWs (and many older ones) but the thinking of “you don’t have to give a shit about our products to design them” filled me with boiling rage and felt like it explained everything. Frankly, it was an insult to everyone at BMW who deeply cares about their cars.
I mean, you don’t have to be. But it helps. A lot.
Haven’t heard this exact podcast,so mostly just guessing what he meant with that exactly. As an automotive designer and a massive car guy i would say someone absolutely doesn’t have to be a car fan to contribute greatly in the design of a car. In fact i believe not being a petrolhead can be freeing to seek inspiration elsewhere and not be bound by old ways of doing things. Cars have been historically predominantly designed and engineered by (mostly men) petrolheads. For a product that has the opportunity to combine so many different fields of life, and one that is being used by literally everyone, that can be severely limiting. The most fresh and original approach to something is often by bringing inspiration from other places and not reimagining and reheating things from the past.
I wouldn’t say cars should only be designed by people who only care about cars, outside influence is absolutely important to keep things fresh and interesting. But you probably should care about cars on some level before you sign up to design them and for better or worse, my concluding interpretation of the episode was that caring about cars isn’t really necessary at BMW. Also, it was July 9th 2024 episode of Carstories if you’re interested
I suppose ‘caring about cars’ can be interpreted in various ways. I listened to it and he didn’t say you shouldn’t care about the product. It was a nice message about keeping an open mind for seeking inspiration elsewhere. There are so many cars designed by car people for car people. They are all out there already, what else can you bring to the table? Being a car fan is neither essential nor really necessary for being a great designer.
Peak automotive design started with E31, ended with E46.
Ok. We can only be glad the people who worked on these cars didn’t have the same mindset.
I should send all of you modern car designers thank-you cards. Because of what you are doing today, inside and outside of cars, I no longer have any interest in buying them. Doing my retirement portfolio all sorts of good.
I’m sure all car makers are devastated by the fact you’re not interested in modern cars.
They should be somewhat concerned. There are a LOT of guys like me who have lots of new car money who are not spending it. That is a problem. I enjoyed buying lots of new cars until they stopped producing anything I wanted to buy.
I keep saying this, but manufacturers have to go where the volume is, but it depends what you want.
I read this headline and for a moment thought they were killing off the XM completely. I’m disappointed that they’re not, but this is a start.
Shouldn’t this have just been a Rolls Royce?
Surely there’s space for a Bentayga direct competitor, below the Cullinan.
RR styling would have made this palatable to look at, and the pricing could have been better justified.
Yes. Give it sheet metal that doesn’t look like a rendering from a cyberpunk indie game from 15 years ago and that glorious V12 and watch it sell.
It should have been a sketch that was balled up and thrown away.
BMW can make the XM cool. *Deep breath, puts on flamesuit, helmet, HANS device…*
MINI, in BMW’s portfolio, races the Dakar rally. The XM deserves a beefy “Raptor” option with a widebody, all-terrain tires, mid-travel desert racing suspension, and (metal, not plastic) skid plates. The motorsport background is there, even if under another brand currently.
The XM isn’t supposed to be pretty — it’s a “villain” vehicle, styling-wise. That’s fine! The gnarly styling fits the high-speed offroad-truck market better than “SUV that can do canyon carving.” It’s the same problem every time a new Subaru WRX comes out; people go “ewww it’s ugly” about a machine whose whole purpose is being rugged and aggressive. BMW would do well to lean into the rally raid motorsport heritage here.
This has the kind of daily-drivable plug-in hybrid powertrain I’ve always said trucks like the Raptor and TRX deserve. 700+ hp V8s are silly and expensive to run, but it’s made a lot more palatable if the motor never fires up in local driving.
Look at the XM and just try to say it’s better on its stock giant rims and skinny track tires. This would SLAP with some K03s and beefy suspension. A Baja BMW would be a blast.
That’s fair, but it’d go against the techno-clean aesthetic it was aiming for. Even if they did go through with it to be cool, I think the G wagon would still win for consumers.
They just have an overstyled exterior that every time I see one around I am wondering why you bought that instead of a regular X5M or a Porsche Cayenne.
The rich should just go back to being transported around in personal litters carried by servants and leave the cars for enthusiasts.
Some are. The rich sit in the back while they are moved around by chauffeurs and pilots.
To me, that is the point at which one is actually “rich”. Servants, and lots of them. Otherwise, you just have some money.
Well I can get driven around by someone else in an Uber and flown around by someone else on Southwest. Does that mean I’m rich?
Depends on whether it’s YOUR personal Uber or YOUR airline. I can charter my yacht when I am not using it…
Hmmm It’s my personal Uber when I’m in it.
Yay! I’m rich!!
Whatever gets you through the day buddy. 🙂
My hottest take is that the XM is fine and good, actually, and people need to chill out about it. They are fast, handle well, look good in person, and were technically an M-developed model. History will be kind to them and they’re going to be decently collectible within the next decade.
I’ve only seen one in the wild and it wasn’t nearly as ugly as the pictures led me to think it would be, well, except for the oversized grill which does look goofy. I agree that the hate is overblown, though like others I do struggle to see why anyone would pick up an XM over other options on the market. I suspect that low volume will either help their collectibility down the road, or doom them with low resale values like Bentleys and Rolls Royces have historically suffered from.
Did you forget the /s?
I think it’s the fact that it’s barely/not faster than an X5M that really sealed the deal; if it was actually significantly faster, people would begrudgingly give it a little respect.
Who would buy this over anything else? It’s hideous and doesn’t even look that expensive. I figured it was a Q7 competitor. Between the two, the hot Q7 seems like a better lease.
The X5M is even a better option, it’s lighter, just as quick, 33k cheaper starting price, better looking, has more cargo space (like 8-15 cu ft more) and get’s better fuel economy despite not having the PHEV system (EPA Ratings). the XM is a failure on all fronts technical or otherwise.
This is great progress, hopefully only another couple model years until they discontinue this disaster of product planning altogether.
My thoughts are, the XM was originally planned to be sold to Russian oligarchs and shockingly well off Chinese consumers. The first target market can’t legally buy them and the second doesn’t give a fuck about it.
BMW should just kill the XM off entirely.
It was also just a catastrophic misunderstanding of that the market actually wants. They looked at the success of the Lamborghini Urus and thought “yeah we can make a aggressively styled SUV and overcharge for it” and saw the ravenous sales of the G-Wagon as justification to create a product that is objectively worse than it’s other offerings, but more expensive as a guaranteed sales hit. What they didn’t realize is the G-Wagon has an image that’s aspirational, as “I can go anywhere and do anything, even if you won’t” and the Urus is a Lamborghini, not a BMW.
BMW thought the M branding would make it an immediate hit, because the proliferation of M into every model means that “M is worth paying extra for”. Then they made a hideously ugly, overweight, and less performant car than the X5M Competition, which is tens of thousands of dollars less expensive than the XM. BMW is losing touch with reality, and killing the XM would do wonders to right the ship.
This is the best take I’ve seen. What they needed was a Cayenne Turbo-S (which they low key have with the X5-M, but less compelling), but aimed for the Urus.
I think you have nailed this. Well done!
Yeah this thing screams eastern markets to me. We’ve got more than our fair share of ultra wealthy conspicuous consumers with more money than taste here in yee haw land but for how much this abomination costs and just how goddamn ugly it is it’s a really hard sell. Anyone here who can drop $160,000+ on a rolling monument to capitalism isn’t going to do so on an XM.
They’d rather get an Escalade V, multiple luxury pick up trucks, actual exotic options that are within striking distance of an XM (Bentayga, DBX, etc.) or a car that’s in contention for the dumbest and least tasteful on the road-the Urus. If you can afford to drop $200,000 on an SUV you can probably afford to drop $300,000 without breaking a sweat. Most American consumers also don’t give a shit about the fact that it’s a PHEV.
That being said the Chinese market wants the most hideous luxury cars imaginable. Their flavor of conspicuous consumption is a bit different from ours. They are fine with absolutely whatever it takes to stand out come hell or high water…and trying to cater to that market is a major reason why we have so many horrendous BMW designs today. They also want electrification, which the XM offers.
As far as the Russians go I’d venture a guess that they’re similar, but I’m not sure. I do know that they’re:
1). Weird
2). Enjoyers of exceedingly gaudy luxury
So putting two and two together they’d probably like this too, and I’m not sure if they have access to some of the super high end stuff we do because of the assorted sanctions and trade battles post-Ukraine.
This is a decent take… I also didn’t realize Escalade V’s were 160k!
I’d argue that Chinese customers don’t actually want such hideous styling either; most probably got the Aito M9 (EREV & EV), which has far more inoffensive design gimmicks, or any of the other ICE car examples. The 7-series still does OK, probably because the high tech interior resonated with that particular demographic, and domestic Chinese options *just* arrived on the market in the past couple months.
They don’t even appear to sell the 4 series in China, only the much more conservatively styled 3 and 5 series.
The X///M has not sold well in China. A combination of lack of badge (BMW just isn’t that posh anymore, even there), a lack of tech (Chinese consumers want Chinese tech, big surprise), and simply being wildly overpriced has them gravitating toward Western superSUVs with better badges or Chinese ones with more features and a lower price. BMW has managed to build a car that fulfills a niche of only…gaudy Americans. Which I guess shouldn’t be surprising.
No more lipstick on a
pigBMW.Surely they can’t be Sirius.