BMW’s tall coupe, the X4, is about to get the LCI treatment, aka facelift in the Bavarian brand’s internal lingo, a little over two years after the second generation entered production. Spied near the automaker’s technical center in Munich, Germany, these prototypes had their front and rear ends covered up, and the black example featured a window sticker that said 08/21. Oh, and it also had a bang (not a Bangle) on the front door, for those paying attention to these sort of details.
Back to the “08/21” sticker, your guess is
as good as ours as to whether these numbers mean anything or not, like the
unveiling date or perhaps the start of production. What we can tell you,
though, is that you can make out some of the visual changes even with the thick
camo on, including a revised but similarly-sized grille, slimmer headlights,
tweaked front bumper with redesigned lower air intake and repositioned fog
lamps.
Other than the cleaner-looking rear
bumper, the back end does not seem to have changed at all, but if we were to
bet on it, we’d say that the taillights will at least sport different graphics
once the facelifted X4 comes out. A new infotainment system, possibly with a
larger display, might be part of the upgrades inside, alongside a restyled
central console with new iDrive controller and gearshifter. Still, since our
spies couldn’t get close enough to take pictures of the interior, this is pure
speculation at this point.
We don’t know yet if the engine lineup
will be revised in any way, but in North America, it will probably continue to
be offered in xDrive30i and M40i trims, with the former sporting a 2.0-liter
four-pot making 248 HP and a 3.0-liter inline-six that develops 382 HP in the current
iteration. The range-topping X4 M is offered with a 3.0-liter TwinPower Turbo
straight-six, generating 473 HP in the regular model and 503 HP in the X4 M
Competition.
