When the current BMW 7-Series debuted, it was met with a lot of controversy over its design. Now, our spy photographers have captured the next-gen one around the Nurburgring with less camo, and in addition to an even larger grille, it has what appear to be quad headlights.
Unfortunately, this isn’t likely to be a one-off thing, as we’ve seen split lighting like this on the X7 prototypes roaming around in the past. The setup initially appears to be similar to that of cars like the Hyundai Kona and current-gen pre-facelift Jeep Cherokee, where a pair of slim DRLs up top serves as the visual focus, while the larger lights below do the job of actually illuminating the road.
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However, based on the way the lights are placed, BMW could be doing something a bit different—making both sets of headlights the focus of the front end, or possibly even the lower ones as the focus with the upper ones serving as a pair of “eyebrows”.
Aside from the headlights, while partly covered, the grille seems to extend all the way down to the top of the center intake and possibly as far up as the upper headlights, which means it’ll likely be large, but nothing like the full-height ones found on the M3 and M4. As for the rest of the front, the revised fascia looks to be a more pronounced version of the swooping design found on the outgoing 7-Series. In the rear, the test car appears to retain its full-width light bar, albeit with a different design, and the rear end, in general, seems to be much more squared-off than the outgoing model’s.
Interestingly, the overall design almost seems to be reminiscent of the ZBF 7er concept from the ’90s that BMW only recently pulled the wraps off of. Could revealing that car to the public be BMW’s way of foreshadowing the newest car’s design? At this point there’s no way to know for sure, so we’ll have to wait until the 7er’s official unveiling to find out.
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As for potential powertrains, details at the moment are scarce, but the leading speculations suggest there could be multiple different variants with everything from inline-6s, to V8’s, to plug-in hybrids, to even a Mercedes EQS-fighting all-electric i7 riding on the same platform. And on the topic of that platform, it’s believed that this new 7-Series will be one of, if not the first car to ride on BMW’s Neue Klasse architecture, an extremely versatile platform that places a heavy focus on electrification and will supposedly underpin every new BMW in the future.
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