According to a person familiar with BMW‘s plans, a sporty, two-door version of the all-new 7-Series is currently in the works and could land as soon as 2019.
In the US, 7-Series sales have declined rapidly, despite the flagship Bavarian model being on the same level as the S-Class just four years ago. Next year could be even tougher for the 7-Series as Audi will be introducing their self-driving A8 flagship, which means that BMW has to do something to shake things up.
“The 7-Series hasn’t managed the same ‘aha’ effect as the new S-Class, which is what Audi will be going for, too,” said Juergen Pieper, at analyst at Bankhaus Metzler. “It’s lacking that special something.”
It seems that, internally, BMW is blaming the 7-Series’ slow sales on the too few technological advances and perhaps most importantly, a boring design, said the person familiar with the company’s thinking. Plus, the 7-Series is not available in as many versions as the S-Class, which you can also get as a Coupe, Convertible and Maybach.
As reported by Autonews, the new A8 will indeed play the role of the wildcard with its extremely advanced self-driving systems. According to Audi, drivers will be able to let the car do all the work without having to keep a hand on the wheel.
“The new A8 will be quite a meaningful departure from the current model,” said Stuart Pearson, an analyst at Exane BNP Paribas. “You would expect to see 7-Series sales start to decline again when the A8 comes out.”
One more reason for Munich to go ahead with the Coupe, then, as the Maybach-rivaling 7er thathas already previously been reported most likely won’t be enough.
Rendering courtesy of X-Tomi
