BMW Is Killing the X4

When BMW launched the second-generation X2 last year, it made the crossover-coupe mashup much larger than its predecessor. That left some of us wondering whether the X4 has a future in the company's increasingly crowded lineup. Well, now we know the answer–it's going away. Company officials have told our colleagues at Motor1 Italy the Mercedes GLC Coupe rival won't live to see another generation.

BMW explains there's no room in the lineup for the X4 anymore now that the X2 is all grown up. The price gap between the two has been substantially narrowed, so there's no point in keeping both in the lineup. Those who need a larger, posher SUV beaten with the coupe stick can step up to the big-boy X6.

Should you need something in-between after the X4 goes away, the German luxury brand says the new X3 scratches that itch. Unlike the X2 with its front-wheel-drive-based platform and four-cylinder engines, BMW's best-selling product in 2023 continues with RWD underpinnings and a six-cylinder engine in the new M50.

BMW doesn't say when it intends to end production of the X4. With deliveries of the revamped X3 starting late this year, logic tells us the coupe-styled derivative won't stick around for much longer. It seems unlikely the model will live past 2025. The X2 isn't truly a replacement but customers shopping in this niche can't really make the difference between front- and rear-wheel drive. Hearing news about an SUV getting the proverbial axe is not something that we're used to but we're honestly not sad that it's going away.

Although the X4 with combustion engines is facing the chopping block, there might be an indirect successor. BMWBLOG reports a fully electric iX4 is scheduled to arrive around 2027 on the Neue Klasse platform. The Munich-based marque has said it'll launch at least six EVs on the new dedicated underpinnings by 2028. The iX4 could be one of them, alongside the already confirmed iX3 crossover coming in 2025 and the i3 sedan due in 2026.