BMW iX5 M Now Trades Its Twin-Turbo V8 for Four Sharp Motors

The BMW iX5 M has been caught working hard at the Nurburgring, and its arrival marks a proper break with tradition. BMW’s next flagship performance SUV drops the outgoing X5 M’s 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 in favour of a full battery-electric powertrain, with a reveal pencilled in for 2027. Fans of eight cylinders will grumble. Anyone chasing outright pace probably will not.

Look at the nose, and you can see how far the M version strays from the standard iX5. The tall, narrow kidney grilles are gone, replaced by wider, squatter units sitting above a shallower glazed panel. Expect slimmer headlights with their own signature graphics, plus reworked lower bumpers and fresh wheel designs. It is a face that lines the car up with the incoming 5 Series and the facelifted M5, both also due in 2027.

Elsewhere, the bodywork looks largely untouched, and there is a reason for that. With the latest X5 shedding its chunky wheelarch cladding, BMW has lost the easy route to a wider track and the hunkered stance that gave earlier X5 M generations their bulldog presence. This one will have to earn its swagger through detailing rather than sheer girth.

The mechanical package is where the real work has gone. Battery capacity should mirror the standard iX5’s 141kWh, with peak charging speeds of up to 460kW. The motor count is the big one. Where the regular car makes do with two, the M is expected to run four, one per corner, in the same vein as the electric M3 that BMW M has been developing. Metering drive to each wheel individually does more than pile on power. It sharpens turn-in, tightens the line mid-corner and lets the chassis engineers dial in behaviour a differential could never manage.

There is a trade, of course. Fatter tyres, more motors and a performance-first calibration will eat into the base iX5’s claimed 525-mile range, though well over 400 miles still looks realistic. That would keep the iX5 M ahead of coming rivals such as the AMG GT SUV, the electric Porsche Cayenne Turbo and Bentley’s Torcal. With placeholder lights, wheels and bumpers still bolted on, this prototype has a fair few months of development left in it.