(Motorsport-Total.com/Motor1) – With only 7,608 units sold worldwide in 2025, the XM was BMW’s weakest-selling model; even the now discontinued Z4 Roadster performed better. This year looks even bleaker: up to and including June 2026, demand fell by 22.4 percent compared to the first half of the previous year to 2,816 vehicles, of which around 400 were new registrations in Germany.
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Given the high price, BMW and M GmbH never expected the plug-in hybrid SUV introduced in 2022 to become a volume model. However, the problem seems to be that the numbers are so low that the standalone M model could be at risk.
According to a new report from Automotive News, the future of the XM is uncertain, especially because it is selling sluggishly in China. When the M model was launched four years ago, the premium manufacturer expected 23 percent of customers to come from China. The USA was supposed to be the largest market with 26 percent, but the electrified SUV is also struggling there. Official sales figures show that demand in 2025 fell by 4.9 percent to only 1,878 vehicles.
The report is not entirely surprising. The XM has been on the market for about four years, and usually, spy photos of a facelift prototype would have been seen during test drives by now. That has not been the case so far, which could indicate that BMW is skipping a mid-cycle refresh (LCI) for its SUV flagship. Because the lifecycle will be short …
A redesign in the sense of the New Class is also highly unlikely, although the brand has announced it will launch around 40 new or updated models by the end of 2027. More M variants of the new X5 and future X7 would be conceivable.
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Although the XM is officially considered a standalone M product, BMW has achieved significant economies of scale. The XM not only uses the proven CLAR platform but now also shares its plug-in hybrid V8 powertrain with the M5 models. The XM 50e, which is not offered in the USA, is also a plug-in hybrid but is based on an inline six-cylinder engine, as used in other PHEV models of the brand.
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Even if BMW has spread development costs across several models, the XM might be too niche to justify a successor. As always: nothing is official until the manufacturer confirms it. But the lack of any signs of a facelift, let alone a second generation, fuels doubts about the XM’s future. However, this does not mean the model will be discontinued overnight, as product decisions are made years in advance and rarely changed during the lifecycle unless the situation is exceptionally bad.
If the XM is discontinued later this decade, it would follow other BMW models to the automotive graveyard. The Z4 and 8 Series have already been discontinued, and the i4 is also facing the end to make room for the new i3 sedan. Rumor has it that there will be no room left in the model lineup between the new iX5 and the upcoming iX7 for another extravagantly designed SUV, the iX. Additionally, Automotive News reports that the 2 Series Active Tourer might also only be around for a limited time.
Like almost all established automakers, BMW is currently facing major problems in China, where sales are under significant pressure. Since the XM is struggling in the market that was supposed to be its second largest and the situation in the USA is no better, the conclusion is obvious.
But even if no successor comes, the XM is likely to remain in the lineup for a few more years. It would then be one of the few models to skip the New Class transformation. Given the profound upheaval in the BMW lineup, it probably won’t be long before the XM seems somewhat out of place. We would wait until the new X5 has been rolled out in all its versions by 2028.
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Source: Automotive News
