BMW X4 coupe-style SUV arriving next year

In a relentless quest to fill every conceivable gap between its umpteen models, BMW revealed today at the Los Angeles Auto Show that next year it would offer the 2015 BMW X4. Based on BMW’s successful X3 crossover, the five-door, slant-back X4 is described by its maker as a “sport activity coupe,” just as it describes the larger X6.

Indeed, the X4 is essentially an X6, only smaller. “It is to the X3 what the X6 is to the X5,” said BMW spokesman Matt Russell. And that is to say that it is an X3 for people who are willing to make practicality concessions in favor of high-profile style, a touch better performance — and a higher price.

BMW execs have made comments about the X4’s development in the past, but made it all official at the 2013 Los Angeles Auto Show, alongside its Concept X4, which it trotted out earlier this year at the Shanghai Motor Show.

Other than to confirm that it will arrive in summer of 2014 as a 2015 model and will be built alongside the X3, X5 and X6 at BMW’s Spartanburg, South Carolina, assembly plant, BMW was short on details. But you can expect it to offer most of the goodies currently offered on today’s X3, including its choice of turbocharged four-cylinder and six-cylinder engines, choice of rear- or all-wheel drive and manual or automatic transmissions. Given its sporting proclivities, a performance-tuned X4 M is also a virtual guarantee.

The 2015 BMW X4 will face plenty of competition in the form of the upcoming Porsche Macan, Audi Q3 and Mercedes-Benz GLA-class, to name a few, all vying to fill every conceivable permutation of luxury small SUV, along with what white space is left on Southern California's freeways.