BMW promised the radical XM concept it showed last year was “more than 90%” ready for production and indeed the final car will arrive in dealerships next spring with only minimal design changes. M division CEO Frank van Meel told Autocar the prevailing ethos for the XM is ‘extroverted luxury’. “It’s got this rock star image of on-stage/backstage,” he said. “The car itself is more like the front of stage, but at the same time in the second seating row you have this cosy seating bench which is more like the backstage area.”
Indeed, the rear seating area has been devised as an ‘M Lounge’, placing more of an overt focus on occupant comfort than any M car before it, with integrated phone holders, luxurious quilted leather, a dedicated rear infotainment screen, a tablet mount and USB-C ports among the standard features.
It’s a similar story up front, although the XM does place more of a focus on driver engagement than the similarly sized BMW X7. There are M-specific display modes for the wrap-around infotainment screen, M buttons on the steering wheel, carbon shift paddles, M-specific pedals and various sports-themed finishes and trim elements throughout to mark this out obviously from a standard BMW SUV.
Asked whether it should be considered as a sports car, van Meel told Autocar: “It’s a very big car, but it’s really easy to drive very precisely. Of course, it helps if you have a big battery on the floor because your centre of gravity goes down, which gives you more possibilities on the suspension to be precise, but at the same time you have comfort because the car is not rolling so much.