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BMW’s first SUV never wore the full M badge it always seemed to deserve, but Kith and BMW have finally settled the score. Working together, the pair have taken a first-generation X5, the E53, and turned it into the V10 manual monster Munich left on the shelf. It is a ground-up restomod, and it sounds every bit as unhinged as it reads.
The starting point was a 2000 X5 stripped back to bare metal, then rebuilt over more than a year. At its heart sits the naturally aspirated 5.0-litre S85 V10, the same screamer that once powered the E60 M5 and E63 M6. Here it produces 500 hp and 383 lb-ft of torque, all of it channelled through a proper six-speed manual gearbox. This is the first time BMW’s V10 has ever found a home in an SUV.
Cleverly, the driveline keeps the E53’s original fixed-ratio all-wheel-drive system, an early cousin of the xDrive setup BMW introduced on this very generation. A set of M performance parts rounds off the mechanical work, which points to uprated brakes and reworked suspension. For context, the hottest factory E53s were the V8-powered 4.6is and 4.8is, good for 342 hp and 355 hp respectively, so this one-off comfortably eclipses them all.
The look leans on heritage. The bodywork wears factory Titanium Silver Metallic, the shade the E53 launched in, and gains swollen wheel arches, deeper bumpers and neat side skirts. Five-spoke alloys and blue brake callipers finish the stance, while the cabin gets a bespoke instrument cluster, a recalibrated tachometer and subtle Kith branding throughout.
The V10 E53 will not travel alone. Kith and BMW are also bringing a one-off 2027 X5 finished in Frozen Titanium Silver, plus a pair of restomods, a 1972 3.0 CSi and a 1987 M6, both dressed in vivid Inka Orange over beige leather. The full set makes its public bow at the BMW Villa in Pebble Beach during Monterey Car Week.
