It’s hard to believe that fifteen years have passed since BMW made the decision—that some of us didn’t like at the time—to create its own version of a sport utility vehicle. It was—and in its third generation still is—called the X5 Sport Activity Vehicle.
BMW planners obviously knew the market better than their naysayers. Not only was the X5 a success, but it spawned a fleet of additional X vehicles, namely the X1, X3, X4, X6, and in a couple of years, the X7. Not to be left out, BMW M gave us the X5 M and the X6 M.
In the past fifteen years, BMW has gone from one of the world’s most recognized and admired producers of premium performance cars, to one of the world’s most recognized and admired producers of premium performance cars and luxury all-wheel drive sport vehicles. To date, over 3,300,000 BMW X vehicles have been sold worldwide. Almost one out of every three newly registered BMW-branded vehicles carries an X badge.
The BMW X family also reflects the company’s desire to lean toward green vehicles. The diesel powered X5 is very popular, the X3 is now getting a diesel powerplant, and the X5 plug-in hybrid should be announced very soon.
Most of the X vehicles sold over the years were built at the BMW Manufacturing Plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. In fact, BMW is the U.S.’s largest exporter of vehicles to non-NAFTA countries, and they are all X’s.
Looking ahead, there is no question that X vehicles will continue to be a large part of BMW’s revenue stream, that BMW Plant Spartanburg will continue to build more—and bigger—Xs. Some BMW purists still resent the resources that BMW has allocated to X vehicles, wishing instead that the company only built premium performance cars. But some of us look at it this way: BMW X vehicles feel and drive like BMWs, go places where most other BMWs can’t, and have certain characteristics you just can’t get in a normal BMW.
And some of us who may have been early doubters of BMW’s wisdom in green-lighting the first X5 now use our X5s to do something we couldn’t do with our other BMWs: Tow our BMW cars to the track.—Scott Blazey
