It may not be an M7, per se, but it’s pretty darn close. We’re referring, of course, to the new M760Li xDrive, which represents the first time that BMW has applied the M Performance treatment to its flagship sedan.

Now undergoing its global launch, the M760Li is Munich’s answer to the likes of the Audi S8 Plus and Mercedes-AMG S63 – or even S65. Which is, to say, a very big luxury sedan, with all the power and poise it needs to keep moving along at a considerable pace.

And what a pace it is: With 600 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque on tap, the Bavarian carmaker says the M760Li will hit 62 in 3.7 seconds and top out at nearly 190 miles per hour.

The juice comes courtesy of the same 6.6-liter twin-turbo V12 you’d find in the latest Rolls-Royces, channeled to all four wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission. And it looks the part, too, but those buyers in the market for V12 refinement without the go-fast look can spec the Excellence version with a more elegant (less sporty) look as a no-cost option pack. The question is, how does the big Bummer stack up to the competition?

The most immediate comes from another BMW – namely the Alpina B7, which somewhat suspiciously offers the same output, but from a lighter engine. The only other twelve-cylinder performance sedan in this class worth speaking of is the Mercedes-AMG S65, which boasts significantly more power and a boatload more torque at 621 hp and 738 lb-ft – but without the benefit of all-wheel drive to get all that torque to the ground, it takes longer to accelerate. (The S63 bridges the gap at 577 hp and 664 lb-ft, but neither the Maserati Quattroporte nor the Jaguar XJR can come close in terms of output.) The Audi S8 Plus, then, may be its closest out-of-house competition, with slightly more power than the M760Li but significantly less torque at 605 hp and 516 lb-ft.

Of course output levels and acceleration figures will only tell you part of the story. The way a vehicle actually drives will tell you the rest, and we’ll surely be seeing a number of reviews proliferating in the coming days. Push comes to shove, choosing a performance sedan in this elite segment is a task we’d be glad to undertake, if someone would just spot us the $150k or so it would take to put one in our driveway – with some extra cash for gas and tires, both of which the top 7 Series model (like its rivals) are sure to go through at suitably breakneck speeds.

As for the rest of us, without all those zeroes on our bank statements, we can just admire from afar. And admire we will in this massive gallery of fresh, high-resolution images below.

Photo Gallery