According to Autocar, BMW is working on a sporty version of the X3, which will be called the X4. Apparently, the Bavarian car maker wants to repeat the X6 recipe with the X4 (you take a popular SUV, create a sporty version of it and then let money come to you). Scheduled to go on sale in 2014, the X4 will be a four-seater (just like the X6) and BMW even consider an M version of the model.
It looks like the X4 idea isn’t new, BMW designers proposing a sporty X3 back in 2003, but due to capacity concerns at the company’s factory in Magna, Austria the project was postponed. Now, with recent investments at the Spartanburg plant in the US which will extend production from 160,000 to 240,000 units per year, it looks like the X4′s chances of ever seeing daylight are pretty high.
According to Autocar, when asked about the X4, a “high-ranking BMW official” told “With the move into North America, we’re able to take advantage of greater production flexibility,”, which is a pretty affirmative answer.