To use the Citroën XM name on its future sports SUV, BMW has reportedly signed an agreement with the French manufacturer. The latter for its part begins to designate vehicles raised by an X and a number, nomenclature used on BMW SUVs.
BMW recently announced a muscular large SUV concept designed by its Motorsport sports department. The names of the brand’s SUVs begin with an “X” and that of the firm’s sports cars with an “M”; the vehicle to come was logically called XM. The use of this name by BMW may nevertheless be surprising since Citroën marketed a sedan so named in the 1990s. The two manufacturers could have reached an agreement.
![The XM was a sedan in the Citroën range in the 1990s.](https://www.largus.fr/images/images/xm-nom.jpg)
The XM in exchange for the C5 X?
Rather sensitive on the issue of its intellectual properties, Citroën is currently opposed to the launch of Polestar in France, deeming the logo of the Sino-Scandinavian firm too close to that of DS. To avoid this kind of inconvenience with your XM, BMW would have paved the way for Citroën. An internal source at the French manufacturer would have explained to our American colleagues of Carscoops : ” The use of the name XM (by BMW) is the result of a constructive dialogue between Citroën and BMW, so this has been carefully considered and discussed. It is, in fact, the result of an informal agreement (in the English expression “gentlemen agreement”, Editor’s note) which echoes the launch by Citroën of a new model combining an X and a number, in this case the C5 X, and BMW’s wish to associate their name in X with their Motorsport universe, and therefore the famous signature M. Citroën retains the right to use the X in names such as CX, AX, ZX, Xantia, Xsara .. . and XM. “
![Was the name of the Citroën C5 X deemed too close ...](https://www.largus.fr/images/images/c5x-nom.jpg)
![... that of the X5, which inaugurated the BMW X range?](https://www.largus.fr/images/images/x5-nom.jpg)
An unfair deal?
Citroën would therefore have authorized BMW to use the exact name of one of these historic vehicles (and to register the mark) in exchange for the use of a name close to but far from being identical to the nomenclature of the German manufacturer. Pending direct confirmation from Citroën, we will take this information with a grain of salt. Note in passing that to designate the first SUV of its electric branch BMW i, the Bavarian firm has opted for the reverse order and called its vehicle iX. But if the sporty adventurer was named MX, it is perhaps to Mazda that BMW should have been accountable.
![BMW's first exclusively electric SUV is called iX ...](https://www.largus.fr/images/images/ix-nom.jpg)
![... but the name MX might have been claimed by Mazda.](https://www.largus.fr/images/images/mx5-nom.jpg)
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