BMW just announced that its lineup of the absurdly powerful XM SUV will be reduced from two available models to one for the 2026 model year. The more powerful Label version of the XM is now all consumers have to look forward to, with the base trim being dropped. It’s a slightly confusing move, as the “Label” designation was supposed to attach to annual special editions, but BMW has decided to yank that plan.
The automaker rolled out the “Label” concept in 2023 with the bonkers XM Label Red, sporting flamboyant styling and a massive horsepower bump from 644 ponies to 738. But BMW has seemingly concluded that the lesser output for the combined twin-turbo V8 and plug-in-hybrid powertrain was for the weak. Thrust junkies with fat bank accounts (or two bitcoins) will now have recourse only to a 0-to-60-mph time of 3.6 seconds, according to BMW, and a limited top speed of 155 mph, unless they pay extra for the M Driver’s Package and go to 175 mph. The hybrid system provides a healthy 194-horsepower boost to the XM Label’s output, but the current version’s 19.2-kWh battery is hampered by an AC charging rate of 7.4 kWh. For 2026 that goes to 11 kWh.
More color choices, fewer red accents
The images of the XM Label than BMW released with the news makes the super-SUV look considerably less garish than what we saw with the Red version back in 2023, so the decision to drop the annual special editions and the pressure to make them look the part is perhaps a step in the right direction. The XM’s design is still controversial, but less so without a bunch of red accents.
That Individual Frozen Tanzanite Blue metallic paint you see here will be a new option for the SUV, along with a refreshed welcome-lighting protocol. Customers will be able to order Jet Black 23-inch wheels with a new design to completely fulfill the XM Label’s unapologetic over-the-topness. The interior will get three new configurations: Individual Night Blue Full Merino Leather with Vintage Coffee accents, Individual Black Full Merino Leather with Vintage Coffee accents, and Individual Silverstone Extended Merino leather with Black accents. They all look rather nice.
Who’s it for? Who cares!
So who needs this monster? Well, who cares? Yoking hybrid systems to enormous V8 motors and wrapping the whole belligerent package in traffic-stopping sheet metal is an objectively good way to sell horsepower and luxury at the same time. Then consider that the XM is basically a five-passenger SUV with up to 64 cubic feet of cargo capacity and you can throw, yes, versatility into the equation.
Given pretty sluggish sales for the XM, it probably makes sense that BMW wants to go for the gusto and make the XM Label the only choice, maxing out the profitably of its legitimately insane flagship. The XM Label will debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this Saturday and enter production at BMW’s plant in South Carolina later this year. Pricing wasn’t announced, but the current XM Label starts at $186,700, so it would be reasonable to expect a similarly stratospheric sticker for the 2026 model.
