BMW’s first million-dollar car launched in Singapore

IF you’ve got a cool million bucks to spare, BMW would be happy to relieve you of it in one go. Its latest car in Singapore is the XM – a plug-in hybrid sport utility vehicle (SUV) that has a hefty price tag of S$1,003,888, inclusive of Certificate Of Entitlement.

That figure would have been lower just a few months ago. New luxury car taxes introduced at this year’s Budget in February raised the Additional Registration Fees payable on the XM by S$127,000, compared to the previous tax regime. That helped boost the price past the S$1 million mark.

But the eye-opening price is also because the car is something of a statement piece from BMW.

“Seven figures is a lot for a car, there’s no doubt about that. That’s the situation we have in the Singapore car market and we’re perfectly okay with it,” said Lars Nielsen, the managing director of BMW Group Asia.

“But the technology that goes into this car is immense. The car is jam-packed with technology and that comes with a price. The performance that comes with the car comes with a price.”

The XM’s in-your-face styling and boxy shape are unapologetically provocative.

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“We aim to attract a new group of customers with the BMW XM as it boasts an extravagant design with unconventional proportions,” Sarah Lessman, the car’s product manager, said in a statement.

It is the widest car that BMW produces, and its opulent interior has diamond quilted upholstery, a roofliner uniquely textured with prisms, and a 1,500-watt sound system.

The dashboard has an optional leather covering called Coffee Brown Vintage that plays up the material’s natural creases and flaws, right down to insect bites, making it unique in every XM.

BMW is counting on monstrous power to seduce, as well. The XM pairs an electric motor with a 4.4-litre V8 engine, both unleashing 653 horsepower together. At 2.7 tonnes, the burly BMW weighs as much as a Rolls-Royce Phantom, but it’s still one of the speediest SUVs in the world, hitting 100 km/h in only 4.3 seconds.

On the other hand, four hours of charging gives the lithium-ion battery in the XM’s hybrid setup enough juice to propel it without emissions for around 80 km. 

“You don’t have to look into too many racing series in the world before you find a combination of a combustion and hybrid drive system with an electric motor,” Nielsen said. “You feel it when you drive the car.”

Nielsen referenced racing for good reason. The XM gets its name from the letter that signifies BMW’s SUV range, and the fact that it was developed by BMW M, the high-performance subsidiary that began life as the BMW’s racing arm.

It’s only the second standalone car developed by the M division since 1978, when the rakishly sporty M1 coupe came out.

With only 453 hand-built examples, that car has since become iconic. Whether the XM attains similar status is something time will reveal, but aptly enough, an M1 in pristine condition would fetch a million dollars today, too.