German Car Zone

Somehow that grill needs to be intergrated into the hood. The cut line breakes the elegance a bit.

This is one design factor I never like about some of the new BMWs.

The guy who put the camo is a genius.

so the new 7er will be going retro with a typical gear shift lever in the center console? I guess the Steering rack mounted shifter wasnt all that good.

I'm a bit amused with all the criticism F01 "looks too classic, too conservative, too bland", too safe".

Check the E65 side line: it's also conservative - the most conservative among BMW models. What is unconventional is the chubby rear with clamshell -like boot lid. And the fascia of pre-FL E65. While the side profile & side styling looks pretty conventional & classic - it's a luxury sedan after all.



But again: E65 to F01 upgrade won't be as shocking as it was E38 to E65. Even more: the E38 spirit is back, and the F01 looks like how E65 could look in the first place: E38 proportions combined with flame surfacing.



PS: so, the new spy pics shows the size of the kidney grille more properly.

I agree Shonguiz, still though it doesn`t take much imagination to make out the basic shapes. I can`t wait for the fricken camo to come off man. I believe I`m going to love this machine next to the S-Class.

Remember the funny looking E65 with the psychedelic yellow-black camo tape? It was said then BMW was testing a new camo techniques which could hide the lines & panels much better than the classic single-color tape. BMW will use this kind of frenzy pattern tape also on the other prototypes.






It's not a typical gear shift lever.

(X5 center console shown)




BMW will consolidate the gear shift lever design. All models will get that futuristic looking e-shifter. It's more ergonomical, and it allows steering wheel shifting paddles to be used - instead of the shifting buttons on the current 7er.

All to make the new car more sporty & driver oriented again.

Sure wasn`t, I`m glad to see it go.. yet another classic move. The new shifters look like joysticks though. I don`t like how busy the console looks
with the I-Drive and park brake release there. The new 7er better improve or else your going to hitting the shifter trying to work I-Drive.

This was the main reason the shifter was moved to the steering wheel.

When it rains it pours.

lOl, if there ever was a 635hp Bi-Turbo V12 M7 this 7er would surly be the one.

Seems the S-Class will have more presence.. this new 7er is a large car designed to look smaller.
If this was the design goal thay were successful at it.

ohh i like the latest shots that eni just posted..
even though the angles are slightly different, we get to see the pronounced hunches of the back arches.
I guess once the tape starts peeling off, we'll get a better idea of how the high side crease works with the design language of the FO1.

I'm just quite suprised that it seems the flame surfacing isnt that obvious, it doesnt stand out as it has in other models ala Z4, 6, X6.
Im not too sure about the font bumper either, i've never been too fond of the bottom grill stretching across the whole of the bumper.

But, it will be great to see it in different colours, so we can see the lines better.