BMW is sharpening the profile of its flagship models in the luxury segment. There’s a new exterior design for the upmarket sedan and on the inside more luxuries and top-line digital systems, including the BMW Operating System 7.0 and the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant.

The line-up of power units for the new BMW 7 Series has also been updated and includes a new eight-cylinder engine, a six-cylinder in-line unit and plug-in hybrid systems offering extended electric range.

Driver assistance systems now boast a broader range of functionality, with the latest advances towards automated driving highlighted by technology such as the new Reversing Assistant.
There’s standard BMW Live Cockpit Professional with Navigation system, and fully digital, 12.3-inch instrument cluster and 10.25-inch Control Display.

BMW says the new Operating System 7.0 enables extremely fast access to settings. The functions, customisable displays and multimodal operation are accessed via a touchscreen display, iDrive Controller, steering wheel buttons, voice control and gesture control.

BMW says the Intelligent Personal Assistant acts as a digital co-driver and expert on the car and is controlled by natural voice commands. There’s also Integration of Microsoft Office 365, Skype for Business and capability of remote software upgrades for updating vehicle functions over the air.

The choice of power units for the new BMW 7 Series includes petrol and diesel engines with six, eight and twelve cylinders, as well as an all-new plug- in hybrid drive system. Topping the range is the 6.6-litre V12 engine at the heart of the BMW M760Li xDrive, which produces 430 kW/585 hp and now comes with a particulate filter to minimise emissions.

The BMW 750i xDrive features a newly developed V8 engine with 4.4-litre displacement and maximum output raised by 60 kW/80 hp to 390 kW/530 hp.

The plug-in hybrid variants of the new BMW 7 Series employ a specially adapted six-cylinder in-line petrol engine and a more advanced high-voltage battery. As a result, the system can generate a combined output of 290 kW/394 hp.

The combined fuel consumption of the BMW 745e, BMW 745Le and BMW 745 Le xDrive is between 2.6 and 2.1 litres per 100 kilometres. The three models achieve an electric range between 50 and 58 kilometres.

Three efficient and low-emission six-cylinder in-line diesel engines, each with 3.0-litre displacement and up to four turbochargers round off the drive system line-up.

Source: Motor Trader E-Magazine (Feb 2019)

17 Feb 2019