Crossing the Blues

Saturday, July 21, 2007

BMW sheds some disguise



This is the first time the BMW X6 off-road, coupe-like crossover has been seen and caught barely disguised! The first spy shots of the upcoming BMW X6, a crossover SUV, were taken late last year around BMW’s Munich headquarters, but now the camouflage has come off and the sloping coupe-like roof line previously revealed is in 100% clear view.

This detail is particularly interesting on the X6, because BMW is applying an aggressive application of the four-door-coupe concept first seen on the Mercedes CLS, to the SUV/Crossover genre. There have been a number of performance-minded SUVs on offer, but the X6 is taking a unique styling approach which appears to be the most ambitious “form-over-function” SUV design effort seen to date.

The roof line 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 is expected to 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.