Bavaria's brawling baby: 2024 BMW X1 M35i xDrive revealed with brand's most powerful four-cylinder engine, confirmed for Australia to tackle Cupra Formentor, Audi SQ2, and AMG GLA35

BMW's M division has been working on making one of the brand's most popular models even more appealing, giving the X1 small SUV the marque's most powerful four-cylinder engine along with plenty of other performance tweaks.

The 2024 BMW X1 M35i xDrive has been revealed globally - and confirmed locally with pricing starting from $90,900 - as the new top-spec for the brand's small SUV, which in Australia ranks as the fourth-best seller for BMW behind the X3 and X5 SUVs and the 3 Series sedan.

The headline for the X1 M35i is its four-cylinder engine, the most powerful in the brand's current range, able to output 221kW in its European guise or 233kW for the US market where emission laws are less stringent.

The good news for Australia is that the more powerful version is headed Down Under.

Thanks to its brawny 2.0-litre turbo four-pot and xDrive all-wheel drive, the small SUV can take on the 100km/h sprint in 5.4 seconds, BMW says, up to a top speed of 250km/h.

Underneath, BMW M has tuned the chassis and suspension - along with M Compound brakes "for the first time on a performance model" - as well as adding a limited-slip differential and adaptive M suspension.

Compared to other X1 variants, the M35i is about 15mm lower, and rides on larger M-specific lightweight 19-inch alloy wheels, though 20-inch versions are optional.

Inside, a 10.25-inch driver information display is paired with a 10.7-inch multimedia screen which operates on a new OS, BMW Operating System 9. This makes the X1 one of the first models in the brand's range to feature OS9, even the new 5 Series runs 8.5.

The X1 M35i will begin deliveries later this year globally, in October for the US and November for Europe, while BMW Australia expects it to land "at the end of this year" here.