We’ve recognized for to a certain extent that BMW is scheduling to bring in a sport-utility vehicle—or “sports activity vehicle,” in BMW-speak—that will be even bigger than the X5, and that its name would be X7. Certainly, the X5 is fairly large already, but in certain respects, mainly in the third row, it is not large enough.
More significant, there’s room above today’s X5 for somewhat more premium-feeling to please a luxury market that is abandoning sedans just about wholesale in favor of large, lavish SUVs. At the 2017 Frankfurt auto show, BMW will be displaying the styling and interior of its upcoming big ’un with the Concept X7.
X7’s Exterior
When looking at the X7’s exterior, many words approach to mind, most of which start with the letter B: big, bold, boxy, brown, bucktoothed. Contrasting many large SUVs, nevertheless, the word “brawny” does not relate.
As an alternative, the Concept X7 is showy, wearing chrome where others have cladding, its round wheel arches free of flares, and its significant ground clearance serving to elevate its profile rather than to improve its off-road proclivities. There’s undoubtedly no skid plate and nary a whiff of a front bumper. The max-glam X7 presses on the boundaries of fashion with its 23-inch wheels.
Together the front and rear feature thin, high-set lighting elements and vertical outboard openings that function either to take in or to extract air while visually are widening an already rather wide vehicle. For manufacture, we be expecting the headlamps will ditch the blue X elements for more conventional LED- or laser-based units, and the rear door glass will be segmented to allow the window to withdraw at least most of the way.
The bumper-level accessories likely will chill out to some extent, and the three-section glass roof will perhaps give way to something more like a predictable panoramic sunroof.
