BMW’s Joint Venture Chinese Partner Brilliance Is Building A New 7-Seat SUV Called V9

A new Chinese SUV is in the works dubbed the Brilliance V9 and in these spy shots, we’re offered our first glimpse of the vehicle.

We’re told that the Brilliance V9 will sit above the V7 in the car manufacturer’s range of models and be underpinned by the brand’s M8X platform which has been co-developed by Brilliance China Automotive Holdings and the BMW Group. A search online reveals that Brilliance has been putting the V9 through its paces during public tests for at least 12 months and based on the comprehensive camouflage of this prototype, the Chinese carmaker looks to still have quite a lot of work to do to bring it to life.

Viewed from the front, the Brilliance V9 appears to support a large front grille just like the V7 while also featuring a pair of angular headlights. Brilliance has also outfitted this particular prototype with a set of silver and black wheels while at the rear we can see a small rooftop spoiler and dual tailpipes.

Read: China’s Brilliance Caught Testing Seven-Seat V7 SUV In Europe

While it seems as though the exterior of the V9 will share some commonalities with the smaller V7, the interior will be drastically different. The small Brilliance V7 supports a digital instrument cluster while in the center of the dashboard is a portrait infotainment system with portrait air vents on either side in a design that closely mimics some Volvo interiors. By comparison, the V9 prototype pictured features a single display that incorporates both the gauge cluster and infotainment display. The result is very clean but one that’s perhaps not quite as pleasing to the eye as the interior of the V7.

Limited details about the powertrains that will be offered with the vehicle are known but the current V7 is sold with a turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine with 204 hp and mated to either a six-speed manual or seven-speed dual-clutch automatic.

Photo credits: S. Baldauf/SB-Medien