BMW to offer eight SUVs by 2020

BMW is looking at offering as many as eight different SUVs, ranging from the carmaker's front-drive X1 to a sportier X8 variant of its seven-seater X7 SUV that was confirmed for production earlier this year.

 

The new X1, which will also spawn a more sporting X2 variant, as we said earlier, will come to the international market in 2015 in both front-wheel drive and four-wheel drive guise. Elsewhere in the range, BMW is getting ready to launch new versions of the X3 and X4, while the new X6 will get its world debut at the Moscow motor show next month.

 

Here are a few details about the upcoming BMW SUVs:

 

The new BMW X1 will switch from its current rear-drive underpinnings to BMW’s new front drive UKL1 platform, allowing for a more distinctive design, improved interior packaging and the possibility of a seven-seat option. It’s due to be launched next year.

 

The X2 will be to the X1 what the X6 is to the X5,  and the new X4 is to the X3. It will get a more sporting three-door layout over the X1 on which it is based, and will be billed as a sporty, raised coupé. A potent M-fettled 2.0-litre petrol turbo version is likely.

 

The facelifted second-generation X3 will hit our showrooms soon. It will be equipped with the latest version of BMW’s ubiquitous 2.0-litre turbodiesel engine, a unit that will soon be rolled out across the rest of BMW’s range.

 

The BMW X4 is now only days away from an international launch. BMW is mulling over an M version of both the X3 and X4, something more likely to be badged M Performance and use the M235i’s engine than a full-blown M car with the M3’s highly tuned unit. 

 

The third-generation BMW X5 has been launched recently. Its range will soon be crowned by a new M version. Expect a debut at the LA motor show in November.

 

BMW showed off the new BMW X6 ahead of its still-planned Moscow motor show debut in August. Styling for the X6 has evolved from the controversial first-gen car, and is due to go on sale in the international market in December.

 

BMW confirmed in March that a big new BMW X7 seven-seat SUV based on an extended version of the X5’s underpinnings would go into production at its Spartanburg plant in North America in 2016. It is intended as BMW’s answer to the Mercedes-Benz GL.

 

BMW X8
Still unconfirmed, the X8 is mooted as a more sporting version of the X7 on which it would be based. The vast SUV would be mainly aimed at markets such as America, Russia, China and the Middle East, and would rival Audi’s proposed Q8.