New BMW X5 M in the works

The first BMW X3 M and X4 M have just been revealed, but don’t expect the BMW M division to stop there with its rollout of hot SUVs.

Next on the hit list is an all-new BMW X5 M, based on the fourth-generation X5 due in Australia by November, and it could pump out an earth-shaking 460kW.

The supercharged 527kW Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk is currently the world’s most powerful SUV, but if the new BMW X5 M gets close to 500kW it could give the all-American cruise missile something to think about.

With the next BMW X5 not expected to show its face for at least another 12 months, X5 project leader Johann Kistler told motoring.com.au it was too early to confirm the existence of another fire-breathing X5 M model … but he confirmed it anyway.

“I can’t really talk about that model or confirm it,” he said, before stating that the next BMW X5 M is “in development”.

BMW is unlikely to overlook the high-performance large luxury SUV market and leave the lucrative segment to the likes of the new Porsche Cayenne Turbo and upcoming new Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S. So the big question is: how much power will the new X5 M deliver?

Kistler wouldn’t be drawn on how much mumbo the new X5 hero model will generate, but it’s guaranteed to bring more muscle than the current BMW X5 M ($188,729), whose 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 pumps 423kW/750Nm through an eight-speed automatic and accelerates it to 100km/h in 4.2 seconds.

The engine that’ll almost certainly drop into the new X5 M is a high-output version of the current 4.4-litre biturbo V8, codenamed N63, with a boosted 460kW output. That engine is currently in use in the BMW M5 Competition, which rips to 100km/h in just 3.3sec.

Christian Gueter, lead powertrain engineer for the new-generation X5, also verified the X5 M is currently in development but said we’ll have to wait and see just how potent the new model is.

“What Johan said [about X5 M] is right but we don’t talk about engine and transmission and specifications right now,” he said.

“The current 8 Series V8 is a fairly new engine, with the 390kW specification. But as you know on the M5 we have 440kW and 460kW specification. The colleagues from the M division they have their own engine development program,” said Gueter.

Don’t expect a petrol V8 with quad-turbo tech as seen in the new X5 M50d model, whose 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo-diesel engine now features four turbochargers.

“No. You don’t need that,” said Gueter, who added that: “…if you’d run with more turbos and combustion pressure [on the petrol V8], you would increase temperatures too much.”

The next-generation BMW X5 M will be packed with loads of chassis tech including active roll bars, M-calibrated dual-axle air suspension, an M rear differential and a reworked xDrive AWD system that may operate like the BMW M5’s, providing it a rear-drive drift mode.

Kistler, who was also project lead on the BMW 5 Series program, confirmed it wouldn’t be hard to cross-pollinate the AWD systems of the BMW M5 and X5 M, given they share the same platform.

Where the X5 M will have the wood on the current M5 is in the technology stakes. Like the Mk4 BMW X5, it will come with an all-new fully-digitised dashboard – expected to be a first for a BMW M car – and more connectivity than any of its stablemates.

BMW Australia’s general manager of corporate communications, Lenore Fletcher, said the bahnstorming BMW X5 M would be welcomed in Australia with open arms.

“There’s been a lot of speculation about those high-performance models and there’s been a lot of discussion about whether or not that’s being developed at the moment.

“Given Australia’s predilection for performance vehicles it would always be something we’d look at,” she said.