— BMW announced today that an "all-new" BMW X3 will debut Monday, June 26. The automaker will livestream a press conference from its Spartanburg, S.C., assembly plant — where it builds the current X3 — starting at 9:30 a.m. EDT. That's consistent with earlier remarks from CEO Harald Krueger, who said in March that an X3 would come later this year. Monday, it seems, is that later date.
It's also been a while coming. The current X3 (pictured above) debuted all the way back in mid-2010 for the 2011 model year, with a mid-cycle refresh four years later. Still, it remains BMW's second-best-selling nameplate so far in 2017, with sales up 30.5 percent through May to 20,784 units despite a year-over-year incentives drop, according to Autodata Corp.
The smaller X1 has become considerably more practical in its recent redesign, so the X3 has room to become more of a performance or luxury choice. We'll find out when BMW livestreams the introduction from South Carolina, where it builds every X3, X4, X5 and X6 worldwide. Whatever the X3 is, you can assume one thing: We won't call it a Sports Activity Vehicle.