BMW reportedly killing the X4 thanks to the X2 getting bigger and swoopier
Motor 1 Italy reports that during a BMW presentation on the X3, BMW representatives said the automaker is retiring the X4 crossover coupe. The company is said to have explained that with the latest X2 having grown in dimensions and maturity — the smaller, previous generation was already popular among the young family set — the pricing and development runway for the X2 puts too much of a squeeze on pricing between the X2, X3, and X4, shoving the X4 into no-man's land. Looking purely at the numbers, we don't see how this is the case. Looking at the numbers alongside BMW's marketing angle for the X2 and X4 sales volumes, then we can at least understand the rationale, even if it sounds like a stretch.
The X4 is 187.6 inches long, 75.5 inches wide, and 63.8 inches tall. The new X2 is 8.3 inches shorter, 2.9 inches narrower, its roof 1.2 inches lower. The X4's wheelbase is 6.8 inches longer than the X2's. These aren't negligible differences, especially in terms of occupant and cargo room.
Comparing MSRPs, in Italy, there's a €19,000 ($20,567 U.S.) gap between X2 and X4 base prices, whereas U.S. buyers find a $13,000 gap. Motor 1 Italy said it was told the ideal replacement for the X4 is the X3, or shoppers who insist on a coupe form factor could hop up to the X6. In the U.S., the X3's MSRP starts at $4,900 more than the X2 but $8,100 less than the X4. We expect the X3's price to rise when BMW introduces the new generation on the Neue Klasse platform, although that SUV will still lack the coupe form factor that gives the X4 a reason to exist. The X6 is $19,500 more than the X4 here, and in Europe, the spread is €26,950 ($29,172 U.S.). Having seen what automakers will come up with to fill a $13,000 hole in the lineup, never mind a $19,500 hole, we don't see where the squeeze is.
Unless we take into account the X2's latest redesign that's given it a surprisingly X4-esque form factor. Then we begin to follow the argument. And in Europe, the X2 not only outsells the X4 by a substantial margin, the X4 is outsold by the Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupe and Audi Q5 Sportback. The sales roles are reversed in the U.S., the X4 moving more units than the X2, but the delta's tighter and neither one manages the volume here that it achieves in Europe.
Predictions now are that the X4 will probably only make it into the 2025 or 2026 model year before finding a nice space to rest six feet underground. BMW's Spartanburg plant makes the X4 for every global market, so we'll see how this plays out in the U.S. Just for kicks, checking the page at Bimmerpost full of rumored info on future BMW products, a single line on the X4 says the current generation ends production in November 2025, while an iX4 supposedly enters production in November 2026.
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