FUTURE: 2015 BMW 7 Series G11 to Include an M7

2015 BMW 7 Series G11 to Include an M7:

Hard to believe that the current generation BMW 7 Series will near the end of its six year production life cycle sometime at the end of 2014, or at the beginning of 2015. Recently, spy photographers have spotted pre-production mules performing cold weather testing in Northern Europe while wearing extremely heavy camouflage, to keep prying eyes away.

The current car was first introduced at the end of 2009. The F01 short wheelbase and the F02 long wheel base variants have been leaders among the competition from the likes of the Mercedes-Benz S-class, Audi A8, and Jaguar XJ. We hear the replacement that carries a new chassis code dubbed the G11, may even include a performance M Powered model.

BMW has been getting plenty of heat for producing substantially heavy cars in recent years. The seven must go on a diet, especially that weight savings will trickle down to the 5 and 6 series which utilize the same basic architecture. Subsequently, we expect engineers to use more composites with high strength to weight ratio. Carbon fiber will be one of those materials, knowing that BMW has made significant investments in streamlining the production of carbon reinforced plastic. Light weight material helps in reducing overall mass, which may pave the way for a full on G11 BMW M7, not to mention helping to increase fuel economy for the whole lineup.

Even though it is still early to predict the exact model lineup of the future 7, the US market will continue to receive the twin turbo V8 powered short wheelbase 750i, the long wheel base 750 Li, and the flagship long wheel-base-only V12 760Li. One thing for certain, the new car’s construction will take into consideration a plugin Hyrbrid-7 version from the get go. BMW will continue to offer xDrive all wheel drive for those of us living in snow rich areas.

The big question, will BMW create the first ever BMW M7, even a sub-M model like an M770i to compete with the likes of the S63 AMG? Even though an M7 would be an epic move, we wont be disappointed as long as BMW leaves it to ALPINA to continue supplying the B7 for North America.