2023 BMW X8 'still coming' – to sit below XM performance flagship

The 2023 BMW X8 could still be on the cards, according to fresh reports.

Earlier rumours suggested BMW’s recently-unveiled XM could have been badged as the X8, but now an article in Germany’s AutoBild magazine suggests the X8 will be arriving as a coupe SUV based on the X7.

While the XM will remain as the company’s performance flagship – and its first standalone BMW M model since the original M1 – the X8 will sit below it as a coupe, as with other evenly-numbered models in the range.

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The X8 is said to be launching with three powertrain options, with the base model expected to be an xDrive40i variant – though it’s possible the Australian market could see the model mimic the X7, with the xDrive30d opening the line-up.

BMW has yet to confirm the X8, or even hint at such a model, but the addition would make sense: all BMW SUV wagon models have a sloped-back sibling, except for the X7.

The publication suggests the X8 will hit the market next year, but as BMW has yet to provide a teaser or concept of the model, if it did come to fruition, it’s likely an X8 would follow some time after the XM’s arrival in late 2022.