After months of testing, BMW’s pending X6 has finally shed some of its anti-spy cloaking, giving Brenda Priddy’s spy shooters a glimpse at its true shocking form.
A radically sloping backlight was predicted, and BMW’s engineers haven’t disappointed, as the X6 clearly has a coupe-like profile, which looks dynamic but likely seriously eats into storage and rear-seat passenger space. Bimmerphiles won’t like this analogy, but it rather reminds us of a modern AMC Eagle (a car that is arguably the progenitor of the whole crossover movement in the first place).
The X6 promises to be at once longer and lower than the current X5, but it is expected to deliver a more overtly sporting driving experience, and only seat four. It is expected to be assembled at BMW’s Spartanburg, South Carolina facility, alongside the Z4 and X5.
There are a number of performance SUVs on the market, but the X6 is taking a unique styling approach which appears to be the most form-over-function SUV design effort seen to date. The roofline begins arching downward after the B-pillar and continues plunging right to the X6’s rising waistline. As a result, second-row headroom and rear cargo volume are both severely compromised. The new X6 will be longer and lower than the new X5, but this crossover will seat only four. But what the sporty X6 loses in seating, it will gain in performance. Expect it to arrive sometime during the 2008 calendar year.
