Turns out the XM isn’t just hard to look at; it’s hard to sell, too.
You’d no doubt recognize the XM if you happened to see one (of the apparently few) on the street. A front-end design like no other, complete with attention-grabbing, glowing grilles, makes the SUV almost impossible to ignore. This was probably, at least partially, the point when BMW launched the Halo M product back at the end of 2022. But sales figures show that BMW may have totally missed the mark with the XM — a rare coincidence with what most brand enthusiasts have been saying since the SUV’s inception.
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Sales of the BMW XM peaked early on and never picked back up
Things started off okay, if not amazing, for the XM. It launched in late Q1 2023, and in Q2 of the same year, 762 models made it into customer garages. That’s not bad when you consider the BMW XM is a somewhat low-production model commanding a price deep in the six figures. Q1 2024 even saw growth for the model — likely as a result of the SUV coming to market in the US late in the quarter, but hey, we’ll give credit where it’s due. Moving 541 units, an increase of 32.3% over the previous year, the XM looked to hold its own. Unfortunately, the good news for XM sales ended there, a year and a half ago.
XM sales fell 29.5% and 30.7% in Q2 and Q3 of 2024, respectively, and most recently, in Q2 2025, they continued to fall another 23.8%, with just 409 SUVs finding new homes. While obviously the Bavarian automaker isn’t producing as many XMs as, say, the BMW 3 Series, it isn’t totally due to low production that the model isn’t moving. A quick search online reveals over 200 XM models sitting on dealer lots, including 2023 and 2024 models.
Changes for 2026 seem unlikely to ail the model, but time will tell
It’s unlikely to be reactionary since it’s about the time in the XM’s product lifecycle for an update, but BMW is making changes to the 2026 BMW XM. The newest model year drops the base model, leaving only the XM Label. The 2026 XM Label enjoys 738 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque — nearly 100 more horsepower than the standard car — and some special red badging details. For 2026, BMW will introduce new exterior paints and interior upholstery, wheels, and welcome light animation. That also means the price of entry rises to over $186,000, when previously, you could get a base model for around $160,000. Unless, of course, BMW does something wacky and debuts the 2026 XM Label at a lower MSRP than the 2025 model.
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Which, while unlikely, isn’t impossible. Despite announcing and showcasing the model’s changes for 2026, the automaker is mum on pricing, claiming it will be announced closer to the model’s August start of production. If the brand really wants to move some metal, a lower MSRP would be a great way to do it. After all, it’s hard to claim the XM is at all close to the aspirational model BMW M hoped it would be. Either way, the elimination of the base model will effectively doom the XM to a continued downward sales trend for the remainder of its potentially short life.
Final thoughts
The XM is a victim of marketing. I’ve had a decent chunk of time behind the wheel of the XM, and the saddest thing about seeing it fail is that it’s actually a pretty competent car. If you pulled all the silly badging and re-positioned it as an X8, priced alongside the top-tier X7 M60i or something similar, it would likely be a pretty good seller. Yes, it’s still ugly, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I was never the target audience. It will be interesting to see how BMW pivots from the XM to the next halo car and what lessons the brand might have learned along the way.