Chairman Helmut Panke has acknowledged that a BMW M7 might be a possibility, after all. The company has long said it wouldn’t be possible to build a hotrod 7-Series and have it meet BMW’s performance and handling standards. You’ve seen the Alpina B7. You’ve seen the G-Power G7. But an M7 would have to be different. In an interview with Auto Motor und Sport, Panke said BMW wouldn’t just shoehorn a massive engine into the 7-Series. In other words, an M7 would not be BMW’s version of an AMG S-Class, but something even sportier. Panke also commented that his company is trying to decide how to follow up to the Z8, which was largely considered to be a flop.BMW never said they’d never make a turbo. They did in fact make a turbo for the 2002tii. The only issues with turbos was their inherit power lag, which when taking a turn at high speeds is the last thing you want, and is also the reason why there aren’t a lot of 2002tiis today that are in one piece (quite a few got nice and friendly with the trees on the side of the road.
I, personally, highly doubt that we’ll see an E65 M7. I had heard the 760 was going to get a power boost to about 500, but this far into the car’s lifecycle it just doesn’t seem worthwhile. Look for the next gen 7 to be lighter, more compact, and designed from the start with the notion of the M7 in mind. Now that BMW’s sales are at all time highs, they have more money to throw around on fun brand-image-enhancing projects like an M7. I’d expect that the focus of a such a vehicle would be how light can we make it with expensive parts. Forced induction might be a good idea due to weight savings, but I’m not so sure an M5-derived V12 NA with around 650HP wouldn’t be more than adequate…
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