The BMW X5 LCI hasn’t been revealed yet but it’s already available to order in Belgium. According to a Belgian BMW customer who reached out to us, you can now order the 2023 BMW X5 xDrive50e plug-in hybrid in in Belgium due to new regulations about selling internal combustion vehicles. In Belgium, companies will be penalized for buying purely internal combustion engine vehicles come January 1, 2023. Which means plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles will likely be the only company vehicles purchases thereafter.
An Increase in Price
And because of that, it seems BMW is allowing companies, and potentially even customers, to order the plug-in X5 early. According to the Belgian customer, the BMW X5 xDrive50e is said to cost 78,000 euros, excluding a 21-percent VAT. This customer also claims the BMW X5 xDrive50e is about 7,000 euros more than the X5 xDrive45e was.
More Power, Likely Higher Electric Range
The BMW X5 xDrive50e will use the B58 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six engine paired with an electric motor. It’s rumored to make 490 horsepower (190 electric horsepower). It’s also said to have a 29-ish kWh battery pack, so don’t expect a huge range figure. Somewhere between 30-50 miles is probably pretty realistic on EPA standards, slightly higher on WLTP.
As expected, the 2024 BMW X5 Facelift will get the same updates as the X7. So you can expect to see BMW’s latest iDrive 8, with the new curved screen and mostly touch controls, the new digital gauge display, a toggle switch gear lever, and maybe a couple of trim updates here and there. On the outside, we’ve already seem from spy photos that the BMW X5 Facelift will have updated headlights and grilles but don’t expect too much more.
The official press release and announcement for the BMW X5 Facelift, and the hybrid xDrive50e that comes with it, should come sometime in February, which is when we should learn when the rest of the world will get the updated X5. Until then, though, the Belgians will be ahead of the rest of us. They have the best waffles, delicious chocolate, and fairytale towns like Bruges but now they even get to order hybrid X5s before us.
[Top Image: instagram.com/wilcoblok]
