Last month, the Autoblog spy photographers brought us an early look at the 800-horsepower iX7 EV, and now they’ve caught a development mule for the gas-powered BMW X7 hustling around the Nürburgring at speed. The three-row SUV is expected to be more luxurious than ever for its mid-cycle facelift, with extensive changes inside and out. And under the hood, the powertrain options are expected to be very similar to those of the new 7 Series, which means a V8 with more power than ever before, potentially near 600 horsepower. That’s still well below a Cadillac Escalade-V, with 682 hp, but the new X7 will have other things not offered in the Caddy, no matter how much you spend.
New BMW X7 To Get New Toys And Luxuries
Autoblog/SH Proshots
The development mule in these images is not wearing the final, monolithic production bodywork we’ll see when the heavily revised X7 debuts next year, but we’ve seen enough to expect the design language of the 7 Series to be applied to the X7, as our exclusive renders show. The new X7 is expected to have the internal chassis code ‘G67,’ hinting at how extensively it’ll be reworked over the present-day G07, and its similarity to the facelifted 7 Series will be more than skin-deep. Expect automatic doors, heated and ventilated seating in multiple rows, and the Panoramic Vision iDrive system. A four-spoke steering wheel is also expected to make the new X7 fit in with Neue Klasse vehicles like the iX3 crossover and i3 sedan. Our spies even postulate that the hand-painted two-tone finish available with the 7 Series may be offered, and the 31.3-inch Theater Screen may also become an option.
Related: Automakers Keep Adding Screens, But Buyers Want Something Else
BMW itself has hinted at putting the display in SUVs, and it seems inevitable, especially since Mercedes is now putting an identical 31.3-inch display in the VLE, and even Volkswagen is offering a 21.4-inch display in the Chinese-market ID. Era 9X. In these family-focused vehicles, having a big screen for kids in the second and third row to amuse themselves with may be a boon, though we suspect several buyers will tick the Theater Screen box just because it’s still somewhat novel.
Autoblog’s Take
Autoblog/SH Proshots
Spy photographers have already seen near-production-ready prototypes out and about, so this sighting on the Nürburgring suggests BMW is still refining the chassis systems, and as these photos show, the X7 is being pushed hard. With four exhaust exits, this may be the hottest M Performance variant, the M60, which we expect to get the V8, and BMW wants it to handle like a much smaller, lighter car, even if most owners never drive the hulking SUV hard. Expect a reveal to take place in 2027, likely as a 2028 model.
Autoblog/SH Proshots
