The New BMW 7 Series Hits the Nürburgring for the First Time

The Nürburgring testing season is beggining, and the facelifted BMW 7 Series is one of the first cars to take advantage. BMW may have just revealed two new cars on its Neue Klasse platform in the iX3 crossover and i3 sedan, but the CLAR architecture isn't going anywhere yet, and the facelifted BMW 7 Series is one of the cars that will aim to bridge the stylistic gap. 2027 G70 7 Series LCI (Life Cylce Impulse) development mules are still completely covered in camouflage, but this one spotted outside the Green Hell has been captured at close range, revealing some of the cosmetic changes coming to BMW's answer to the S-Class. With an Alpina variant expected soon, this will be a particularly important update, so let's dig in.

More Aggressive Looks for New BMW 7 Series

Today's 7 Series has enormous dual kidney grilles that appear to protrude slightly from the front bumper, and its face is framed by narrow LED running lights above an arguably bland pair of horizontal headlight clusters. For the upcoming LCI, the basic recipe hasn't changed, but it's bee refined. The new luxury sedan still has huge vertical grilles dominating its face, but the're less bulbous, and on this test vehicle at least, the vanes running through the grille are horizontally aligned. They also appear to have thicker borders, and to match the aforementioned i3 and iX3, there will be a valley running through the middle of the hood, which BMW has unsuccessfully attempted to hide with fake cladding. At the same time, the headlight clusters under the DRLs are now vertical, which makes the car look less awkward. This also allows the lower intake grille to be more dominant. We still expect the final product to use a lot of gloss black accenting, but with these small changes, the overall effect should be more attractive.

In the profile of the 2027 7 Series, we see no obvious changes beyond a refinement of the wing mirrors, which have a similar shape to Neue Klasse vehicles, but at the back, the revised front end will be complemented by new looks. The rear bumper on this model is still a placeholder item, so we can't get an idea of how exactly BMW will make changes here, but we do see new graphics for the taillights. Considering that the new i3 has reinterpreted the L-shaped taillight, we suspect similar changes here, likely with another recess between the taillights. While we wait for more camouflage to be removed and a production-ready rear bumper to appear, some unofficial renders help paint a picture.

2027 BMW 7 Series Will Change Inside and Under the Skin

We expect the new 7 Series to gain BMW's new Panoramic Vision iDrive system, with a short but full-width display spanning the area below the base of the windshield. Expect a new steering wheel and some new upholstery options to appear in the cabin, too. Under the hood, an updated version of the S68 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 will reportedly appear, with assistance from a 48-volt mild-hybrid system. American buyers love V8 engines, so BMW will keep this around as long as possible. Expect well over 500 horsepower in base variants and potentially over 600 hp in the range-topping M760, since the old V12-powered M760i offered 601 ponies. Expect a reveal in the next couple of months, and an Alpina version soon after.

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