The X2 will have styling informed by the larger X4 and X6BMW’s new Evoque rival to start road trials later this month and the M Performance could get 300bhp
BMW bosses have given the go-ahead to a new sporting crossover to be sold under the X2 name, sources have confirmed.
Set to be positioned between the upcoming second-generation X1 and the current X3, the new five-door liftback is set to go on sale in the UK during the second half of 2017.
Its debut will follow a two-and-a-half-year development programme that BMW insiders say is already under way at the company’s research and development centre in Munich.
The first road-going prototypes of the new BMW are set to hit the road within weeks, according to engineers at the firm’s prototype workshop. “We’re finalising the first prototypes now,” said a source. “They should be in action by the end of the month.”
The new X1’s platform will also be used by BMW’s upcoming X2 — a more overtly sporting model due to be previewed in concept form in early 2016 before the start of UK sales late next year.
BMW officials have already confirmed to Autocar that the X2 will follow the example of the larger X4 and X6 in receiving a uniquely styled steel body.
It will feature a five-door layout, with its tailgate set at a more extreme angle than that of the more practical X1 to give it a coupé-like silhouette.
Like the new X1, the X2 will initially be offered with a range of four-cylinder engines, with the likelihood of more economical three-cylinder units being added to the line-up within the first 12 months. They will include a powered-up version of BMW’s new B48 engine, which made its debut in the 2 Series ActiveTourer, in a planned M Performance variant of the X2 scheduled for launch in 2018. In standard guise the B48 makes 228bhp, although that is set to rise to somewhere in the region of 300bhp with changes to the induction system and other tweaks, in a move that is set to elevate the performance of the range-topping X2 to a level comparable with that of the Audi RS Q3.
They will be mated to either a six-speed manual or eight-speed automatic gearbox in combination with front or four-wheel drive.
The X2 will be produced alongside the new X1 at BMW’s Regensburg factory in Germany, unlike the first-generation X1, which was built alongside the 1 Series and 3 Series at the company’s Leipzig plant.
Increasing demand for key models and the establishment of production lines for the i3 electric car and i8 hybrid sports car at that site has forced BMW to reorganise its strategy.
As with the second-generation X1, BMW’s new Range Rover Evoque rival is planned to be sold exclusively with transverse three-cylinder and four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines, along with the choice of either front-wheel drive or four-wheel drive.
The design of the X2 is set to be previewed in concept car guise, possibly as early as next year’s Geneva motor show, according to BMW insiders.
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