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The BMW X4 is a totally new vehicle, show here with its Highland Silver, all-aluminum body. The X4 is a combination of the styling and features of a sports coupe together with the four-wheel drive and off-road capabilities of the X5 SAV.

Already the press has called the new X4 concept car "a new chapter in vehicle design" and "dramatically different from anything BMW has ever created."

Here's why it's different.

BMW says that Flame Surfacing "gives body surfaces the freedom to turn in on themselves, lending a high degree of visual tension...a controlled tension whose energy pervades the entire visual image without in any way diminishing the vehicle's overall harmony."

This means that, on the X4, a horizontal surface atop each front fender curves upward. 

Continuing on into the door, the shape remains curving upward, gently falling along the way. 

Then, in the transition to the rear, the shape begins to climb, switching to an outward slope, continuing to the rounded edges of the tail.

The shape has also been carried forward to the design of the alloy wheels and distinctive X4 logo.

[More X4]