Ronnie Fieg stuffed a 5.0-liter S85 V10 and a six-speed manual into a 2000 BMW X5, then paired it with a bespoke 2027 X5 wearing a color BMW won’t sell to anyone else. That’s the pitch for Chapter IV of the Kith x BMW partnership, revealed via Instagram ahead of Monterey Car Week.
The E53 X5, originally a pleasant but unremarkable luxury SUV of its era, underwent a full rotisserie restoration before receiving the naturally aspirated V10 from the E60 M5 and E63 M6. The original all-wheel-drive system was retained. BMW never built a V10 E53, though the company did once bolt a 6.0-liter V12 into the X5 Le Mans concept back in 2000, so the DNA for absurd engine swaps in this chassis has always existed.
Fieg’s creation is finished in Titanium Silver Metallic, which serves as the bridge to the second car.
The 2027 BMW X5 by Kith wears Frozen Titanium Silver, a matte riff on the E53’s paint, and BMW says the color will not be available on the production X5. No mechanical details or full interior shots have been released. Whether BMW will produce a limited run or keep the car as a one-off remains unconfirmed, but the pattern from previous chapters suggests at least a handful will reach buyers willing to pay handsomely.
And that pattern is telling. Chapter I in 2020 produced 150 Cinnabar Red M4 Competitions. Chapter II shrunk to seven Vitality Green i4 M50s. Chapter III yielded 47 XM by Kith units at $199,000 each, inspired by Fieg’s Techno Violet M1 build. The trajectory has been fewer cars at higher prices, each one more deliberately positioned as a collector piece rather than a product.
The formula has stayed consistent across all four chapters: take a historically relevant BMW, restore or modify it with taste and ambition, then use it as the conceptual anchor for a modern counterpart. Fieg has called that connection between BMW’s archive and its current lineup a core responsibility of the collaboration. It’s a smart framing, because it gives the streetwear founder curatorial authority over a 100-year-old brand’s heritage without BMW having to cede any actual engineering control.
Choosing the X5 for Chapter IV tracks perfectly. The Neue Klasse X5 is BMW’s most commercially critical launch in years, and dressing it up in an exclusive frozen color alongside a V10-swapped ancestor generates exactly the kind of social media velocity that traditional advertising cannot buy. Fieg’s Instagram reveal does more for the 2027 X5’s cultural positioning than a dozen press conferences.
Both SUVs will be displayed at the BMW Villa in Pebble Beach during Monterey Car Week, alongside Fieg’s personal BMW 3.0 CSi and E24 M6. The man’s garage alone functions as a rolling endorsement of BMW’s back catalog.
What remains to be seen is pricing, production numbers, and whether the 2027 X5 by Kith carries any mechanical differentiation or is purely a cosmetic exercise. Previous chapters suggest the latter, but the escalating exclusivity and price points hint that Kith and BMW are inching toward something that looks less like a merchandise collaboration and more like a low-volume coachbuilding operation dressed in streetwear credibility.
Full details are expected later this week from Pebble Beach. The waiting list, if history is any guide, is probably already forming.
Share this Story