The new BMW 7 Series and i7

Gecko

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A lot happening there.

I bring this up often as it relates to BMW design, but the company is being forced to "look different" because Mercedes and Lexus have evolved their design language so much and BMW really hasn't. Over the years, there has been a lot of feedback from buyers and dealers that the all-new designs don't actually look different enough to distinguish themselves among competition that's changing more dynamically.

At that point, I feel like you run into "change for the sake of change" instead of change for the better. This, the X7, the M3 and M4 are proof of that, IMO. The split headlight thing is a question nobody asked, and it's primarily been used by Asian mainstream brands (Hyundai, Nissan). Looks out of place on a BMW.
 

NXracer

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This new 7 seems like its catering to a specific target demographic/geographic area which as tradition lately is not the NADM. The design elements and feature set are likewise the customer requests. You can guess where.

I cannot fathom that BMW thanos snapped their iconic angel eye headlights.
 

Gor134

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This new 7 seems like its catering to a specific target demographic/geographic area which as tradition lately is not the NADM. The design elements and feature set are likewise the customer requests. You can guess where.

I cannot fathom that BMW thanos snapped their iconic angel eye headlights.
If the design isn't enough telling.. the LWB only and active rear sway bar and other suspension tech from Rolls Royce and overall upgrading of rear seat experience should be enough telling of what market this is specifically designed for first
 

carguy420

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If the design isn't enough telling.. the LWB only and active rear sway bar and other suspension tech from Rolls Royce and overall upgrading of rear seat experience should be enough telling of what market this is specifically designed for first
*cough* China *cough*
 

Ian Schmidt

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At that point, I feel like you run into "change for the sake of change" instead of change for the better.
BMW has the same problem Porsche does, where you want to keep your trademark design cues while also making the cars look up to date. Porsche has the advantage all day on the actual execution of that. Their models aren't a complete home run design-wise, but all of them easily read as "modern but obviously related to the 911".
 

mikeavelli

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I think the issue with the last gen was the interior. While well built it was basically a giant 3 series. No wow factor. I had one to borrow for a week and it was very spacious, drove well and i did like the looks. It had gadgets like gesture control. But the interior just felt old compared to a S class or anything else. I feel the last two generations of the 7 were good looking. The giant grill refresh didn’t help at all. No M7 is truly odd when Benz had a S63 and S65.

I’m hoping they nail the interior. If the exterior is like the new X7 it’s DOA.
 

CRSKTN

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I saw some Hyundais being shipped today.

It is not good how closely the split headlight design looks like the Hyundai implementation. I don’t know which mod it was exactly, maybe the sante fe?
 

Motor

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I’ll have some of whatever stuff they’re smoking.
 

Gecko

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The front end is an absolute, complete disaster. I can't even believe they approved that -- it's worse than I expected from the teasers. Rear end looks as bad here as it does on the 2 Series sedan and the X6, but again, somehow they seem committed to it.

Elsewhere, I like the overall shape and the interior is gorgeous, except for the CVS receipt-inspired tablet on the dashboard. Powertrain lineup is impressive- typical BMW.

I do like how they made the greenhouse more upright and the roofline a little bit chunkier. It looks more substantial and upscale to me in that sense.


This... I have no words for this :sick:

Screen Shot 2022-04-20 at 9.39.54 AM.png
 

Ian Schmidt

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Yikes! The M760e seems to exist mostly to make the stock front end look normal by comparison. Seeing the whole car in the video, it's clear they're positioning this for China, as was speculated up-thread.
 

Gor134

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The front end is an absolute, complete disaster. I can't even believe they approved that -- it's worse than I expected from the teasers. Rear end looks as bad here as it does on the 2 Series sedan and the X6, but again, somehow they seem committed to it.
I think the worst part is.. the head designer of BMW from Skoda who greenlighted all these designs from 2017-2019 and then left the company, leaving the current head designers forced to excuse and defend these designs to the public media, and catch all the flack for it.
 

Gecko

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I think the worst part is.. the head designer of BMW from Skoda who greenlighted all these designs from 2017-2019 and then left the company, leaving the current head designers forced to excuse and defend these designs to the public media, and catch all the flack for it.

Figures. I also saw that BMW was deleting comments off their FB page today. Ouch!