BMW's latest concept car with four-wheel drive and an aluminum Flame Surface. Built on the X5 frame, the X4 coupe is a radical, new chapter in vehicle design.
The BMW X4 is a totally new vehicle, show here with its Highland Silver, all-aluminum body. The X4 is a combination of the styling and features of a sports coupe together with the four-wheel drive and off-road capabilities of the X5 SAV.
Already the press has called the new X4 concept car "a new chapter in vehicle design" and "dramatically different from anything BMW has ever created."
Here's why it's different.
BMW has introduced the term 'Flame Surfacing' to describe the X4's styling technology.
According to BMW, the technique is called Flame Surface because it is "reminiscent of the forms of energetic flames, such as those from the burning of gas under pressure".
BMW says that Flame Surfacing "gives body surfaces the freedom to turn in on themselves, lending a high degree of visual tension...a controlled tension whose energy pervades the entire visual image without in any way diminishing the vehicle's overall harmony."
This means that, on the X4, a horizontal surface atop each front fender curves upward. Continuing on into the door, the shape remains curving upward, gently falling along the way. Then, in the transition to the rear, the shape begins to climb, switching to an outward slope, continuing to the rounded edges of the tail.
The shape has also been carried forward to the design of the alloy wheels and distinctive X4 logo.
The BMW X4 is a totally new vehicle, show here with its Highland Silver, all-aluminum body. The X4 is a combination of the styling and features of a sports coupe together with the four-wheel drive and off-road capabilities of the X5 SAV.
Already the press has called the new X4 concept car "a new chapter in vehicle design" and "dramatically different from anything BMW has ever created."
Here's why it's different.
BMW has introduced the term 'Flame Surfacing' to describe the X4's styling technology.
According to BMW, the technique is called Flame Surface because it is "reminiscent of the forms of energetic flames, such as those from the burning of gas under pressure".
BMW says that Flame Surfacing "gives body surfaces the freedom to turn in on themselves, lending a high degree of visual tension...a controlled tension whose energy pervades the entire visual image without in any way diminishing the vehicle's overall harmony."
This means that, on the X4, a horizontal surface atop each front fender curves upward. Continuing on into the door, the shape remains curving upward, gently falling along the way. Then, in the transition to the rear, the shape begins to climb, switching to an outward slope, continuing to the rounded edges of the tail.
The shape has also been carried forward to the design of the alloy wheels and distinctive X4 logo.
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