Just days away from the BMW XM’s production debut, a confidential leak has revealed a future electric variant could have an epic output of 1 megawatt (1000kW).
BMW is believed to be investigating an all-electric version of its upcoming XM flagship – named the iXM – with the promise of mega performance.
Information leaked by a highly-regarded BMW insider on the BimmerPost forum in recent days provided the first details of an iXM – an electric version of BMW M division’s dedicated high-performance model.
Known only by their online pseudonym of ‘ynguldyn’, the well-placed BMW employee – who has a track-record of sharing accurate future product plans – revealed the iXM is due to go into production in late 2028, a year after production of the XM is expected to end.
This week, BMW’s head of engineering has also confirmed the company has the ability to offer a 1000kW from its electric platform, while hinting at a “really high-performance M product”.
BMW’s R&D chief Frank Weber told BMW Blog the German brand could offer as much as 1000kW – or in other words, one megawatt (1MW) – from its upcoming ‘Neue Klasse’ electric platform.
“The most demanding vehicle that we have is a real high-performance M product. Really high-performance M product,” Mr Weber revealed.
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“What you can expect from this Neue Klasse architecture is not only flexibility within your high voltage battery. You can also have a super efficient single motor architecture, a dual motor architecture, and this can even deliver a four-motor architecture up to one megawatt.”
While there’s no evidence linking the iXM and the megawatt powertrain at this stage, the company’s dedicated flagship M model would be the logical vehicle to offer such performance.
For context, if the iXM was offered with 1000kW, it would make it one of the most powerful production cars ever sold – surpassing the Bugatti Veyron’s power output by more than 36 per cent.
It’s not the first time a megawatt model has been rumoured from the German car maker. In April 2021, a report from the UK’s Car Magazine suggested BMW was working on a 1000kW electric iM2 to celebrate the M division’s 50th anniversary this year.
Known as ‘Project Katharina’, the electric M2 was said to have already completed a lap of Germany’s iconic Nurburgring in less than seven seconds.
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However, as we approach the fourth quarter of 2022, there’s been no hints of the iM2 from BMW whatsoever.
Company insider ‘ynguldyn’ has also revealed BMW is also planning to release a 120kWh battery, which could be offered as a way to power the iXM – though other sources have previously suggested the battery pack will first make its debut in the yet-to-be-confirmed iM4 high-performance coupe.
The 2029 BMW iXM is said to be replacing the forthcoming XM – which is making its production version debut on September 28, and is expected to come with a plug-in hybrid twin-turbo V8 powertrain, offering significant performance and an electric driving range of up to 88 kilometres.
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