The interior of the fourth-generation BMW X3 will feature – surprise, surprise – a phalanx of big screens sitting atop the dashboard.
Dominating the dashboard is a black rectangular slab housing two large screens: an instrumentation display ahead of the driver, and a touchscreen in the centre.
The steering wheel seems to contain a mixture of physical controls (buttons and a scroll wheel), as well as capacitive buttons.
MORE: BMW to banish big, distracting interior screens?
In the centre tunnel there’s a pair of cupholders, a flick switch gear selector, an array of capacitive controls, and a metallic iDrive controller.
As far as the exterior goes, this latest prototype is wearing roughly the same amount of camouflage as the last car our agency spotted back in August 2022. There are still false panels covering the Hoffmeister kink, and temporary lights are being used out back.
The new X3’s overall silhouette won’t be radically different from the current car, but it will have design features shared with the latest crop of BMWs, including lift-up door handles.
With its long bonnet and pleasing dash-to-axle ratio, it’s clear the X3 is based on BMW’s rear- and all-wheel drive CLAR architecture.
It’s unclear what engines will be offered with the X3, but we’d wager it’ll have a mix of turbocharged four- and six-cylinder engines.
A plug-in hybrid has already been spotted, and we’d be flabbergasted if there wasn’t a follow up to the all-electric iX3.
The flat-bottom steering wheel and quad exhaust layout in this vehicle suggests this prototype either has an M styling pack, or is an M-tuned model.
Although some BMW models, such as the 4 Series, 7 Series and X7, sport large and divisive takes on the company’s double kidney grille, the Munich firm seems to be playing it safe with the X3. Most likely this is because the X3 is one of the brand’s best-selling models globally.
Last year, the X3 was BMW’s best selling car in Australia. Its 4546 sales saw it comfortably ahead of the X5 (3111) and 3 Series (2818).
It also came second in the medium SUV over $60,000 segment behind the Tesla Model Y (8717), but ahead of its arch-rival, the Mercedes-Benz GLC (4325).
MORE: Everything BMW X3
