BMW showed the concept version of its 2023 XM hybrid monster truck last year, and little by little we’re finding out how close to it the design of the real thing will come.
The latest spy shots taken near BMW’s Nürburgring test center show that M engineers have stripped away some of the SUV’s disguise to reveal the horizontal slats in its gigantic twin-kidney grille, confirming what we saw in May when a production car was snapped at an airport.
The lower bumper section looks substantially different from the one on the 2021 concept and promises to be no less dramatic. We can also see that the split headlight arrangement is carried over intact. As with the new X7 and 7-Series, the XM separates its light units into separate DRL and headlight clusters. The slim DRLs are mounted at the leading edge of the hood, and the real headlight units are located below in a darkened area of the bumper so as to make them less visible when not lit.
Despite the disguise, we can also see that the XM production car will also feature the distinctive horizontal swage line that runs parallel to the waistline above it, finishing just before it reaches the fat, flared fenders.
Related: BMW XM Spied Testing At The Nürburgring And It Sounds Rather Good
BMW’s first standalone model since the mid-engined M1 supercar will be built at the company’s Spartanburg, South Carolina, plant, and arrive in showrooms at the end of this year. Those first cars will be powered by hybridized 4.4-liter V8 developing 644 hp (653 PS) and 590 lb-ft (800 Nm) of torque, as confirmed recently by BMW.
That will be followed by an even more powerful version producing 738 hp (550 kW / 748 PS) and 737 lb-ft (1,000 Nm) of torque. BMW also says the XM will provide 50 miles (80 km) of EV range on the WLTP cycle and 30 miles (48 km) on the EPA cycle. And probably next to no miles on the maximum attack Nürburging test cycle.
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