BMW XM Label Red Becomes The Fastest “Hybrid Electric SUV”

In the world of high-performance automobiles, achieving greatness takes more than one attempt. Discover the incredible story of BMW's comeback at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, where they overcame a setback to become the fastest production hybrid-electric SUV.

By Joshua Burnett

Published March 22, 2024

BMW XM Label Red Becomes The Fastest “Hybrid Electric SUV”

Nobody becomes great at their first attempt at things, achieving greatness requires much more than that, it is a constant effort of facing challenges and failures until you come close to what we call greatness.

Same goes for BMW, on June 27, 2023, Matt Mullins lined up for 101s running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb race in his BMW XM Label Red. However, with an unfortunate series of events, Matt Mullis on his first attempt ended up going off the track and crashed into a tree and rolled over.

The crash left Mulins unhurt but the XM got badly damaged with the front passenger wheels torn off and unable to drive. This broke hopes of BMW to set a new official race day record with the Red Label and show the Lamborghini Urus Perforamante, who's the boss now

The new SUV is one of the most potent production cars from the Bavarian house with 738 horsepower and 738 lb-ft of torque, which made it worthy of becoming the fastest production SUV on the hill.

The power of an another try

If you know BMW up close, they are manufacturers with pride filled engineers who do not settle for anything less than what they want to achieve. Therefore three months later on September 21, Mullins and BMW once again returned to conquer the Pikes Peek and set a new official record for fastest hybrid-electric SUV.

The Pikes Peak Hill Climb in Colorado is a grueling race that starts at 9,390 feet above sea level and after 150 turns the race ends at the elevation of 14,115 feet. BMW’s Chief Driving Instructor, Matt Mulins once again took the driving seat and piloted up the hill in an impressive 10 minutes, 48.60 seconds.

While they fell short of the Lamborghini Urus Performante’s record of 10:32.064, the manufacturer managed to carve a niche out and title the XM Label Red as “fastest production hybrid electric SUV”. The record attempt also got recorded as a two part documentary depicting the journey of the XM at pikes peak. The first part of the documentary provides details about their first attempt which got ruined because of the unfortunate crash, with the preparation and testing which was done prior to the event.

Appreciating the efforts and record, Marcus Casey, CMO of BMW North America made a statement “Congratulations to Matt Mullins and the entire team behind our inspiring journey to the top of one of the world’s most difficult and historic hill climbs in the unstoppable BMW XM Label.” “Pikes Peak is the ultimate proving ground for elite performers, and we are thrilled to be named fastest hybrid SUV thanks to the world class pairing of an epic vehicle with an equally impressive driver.”