BMW X2 may not join X4 and X6 SUVs

The BMW X4 is due in 2014 and will be based on the X3 mid-sized SUV, making it what the X6 is to the X5.

A coupe version of the smaller BMW X1 (pictured below) is not a foregone conclusion, however, says the company.

“It is a logic question whether [a BMW X2] will come,” says BMW Australia’s product and pricing manager for premium cars and SUVs, Christoph Priemel. “I can’t imagine now that it will come in the next four years…

“With the special niche model of the coupe shape, I’m not sure that’s one you trigger down to the complete bottom [of the range] … because of [even more limited] space.”

An X2 based on the second-generation X1 due in about 2014 isn’t ruled out, though.

Priemel says the X4 only became a reality in product planning once BMW was satisfied the X6 (below), which was launched in 2008, had proven there was a niche for SUVs that place more emphasis on styling than practicality.

“From a strategic point of view we decided to expand the whole X line-up and trigger this concept down to a volume areas where you also reach new price levels and therefore new customers.

“The success of X6 more or less underlined the decision to do the X4. If the X6 had been a disaster I don’t think [the X4] would have proceeded.”

Audi has become the first of BMW’s direct luxury-car rivals to announce it will enter the SUV coupe segment, with a Q6 model that is based on the Q5. The Audi Q6 will be a competitor to the BMW X4.

BMW has sold more than 150,000 X6s since it debuted four years ago. Local sales have been relatively slower, though more than 1700 units have still made their way onto Australian driveways.

BMW this week launched an M Performance version of the X6, called the M50d and powered by a triple-turbo 3.0-litre six-cylinder diesel.