Sports Utility Vehicles are getting popular day by day and manufacturers are playing on the opportunity to introduce different shapes and sizes of SUVs at different price points to take on a range of segments. The leading German luxury carmaker, BMW is preparing to launch the X4 crossover in 2014 in order to expand their SUV portfolio, BMW likes to call it the Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV) segment. The BMW X4 will be a sportier avatar of the X3 boasting a lower roofline and a coupe like styling as we have seen on the BMW X6.
According to Ian Robertson, BMW sales chief, the X4 will be introduced to a totally new segment and will attract new type of buyers. The strategy behind introducing the X4 is to provide a sportier version of the X3 as we have seen previously with the X6 which was introduced as a sportier version of the X5. The X4 will be made at BMW’s plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where the rest of the X range except the X1 is being made. The X3, X5 and X6 are built for global markets in the South Carolina plant, while the entry-level crossover X1 is built in Leipzig, Germany and China.
BMW is ready to ramp up annual production capacity of the South Carolina plant from 3,00,000 vehicles to 3,50,000 vehicles in order to accommodate the X4 production. The X4 will roll out with petrol and diesel engine options and we can expect an M-spec performance edition too with the X4. While BMW is expanding its X range, Audi is also considering adding new models to its Q lineup. The BMW X4 will compete with the likes of the Range Rover Evoque and Audi Q5. We expect it to hit the Indian roads after its global launch in 2014.
