The German manufacturer, BMW, has rolled out the first prototype of the upcoming X7 SUV, from its Spartanburg plant. The carmaker has released a few shots of the X7 flagship SUV, which is set to go on sale globally in 2019.
In India, the X7 is expected to join other SUVs under BMW’s X range like the X1, X3, X5 and the X6. Incidentally, we believe kits for the X3 and the X5 models, which are assembled at the carmaker’s facility in Chennai, come from the same plant where the pre-production models of the X7 are being built. BMW’s official release featuring the X7’s pre-production also hints in the same direction. It states, ‘Together with the BMW X7, a total of five BMW X models will be exported from Spartanburg to all four corners of the globe.’ In case you were wondering, the kits for the X1 come from Germany, while the X6 is a CBU import.
BMW has smartly camouflaged the pre-production models, which are set to go through various tests and homologation in the coming months, to hide what the production-spec SUV’s looks. The overall silhouette, however, remains identical to the butch and boxy X7 iPerformance concept, which was showcased at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2017 (check out the picture above).
It has retained the concept’s big, fat grille with a thick chrome surround along with the sleek LED headlights and wraparound LED tail lamps. The all-glass roof of the concept, however, has made way for a panoramic one.
Though BMW has not revealed any technical specifications of the upcoming X7 SUV, it is expected to borrow its powertrain from BMW’s flagship sedan, the 7 Series. More importantly, since the concept was showcased as a plug-in hybrid, we expect the upcoming X7 to pack the hybrid powertrain option from the 740e xDrive iPerformance, which packs a 2.0-litre, inline 4-cylinder turbo petrol engine coupled to an electric motor. This setup makes a total system output of 322PS. The X7 plug-in hybrid will be among the 25 electrified models that BMW intends to launch by 2025.
The Bavarian carmaker says it will reveal the production-spec model in nearly 12 months from now. This could indicate that the carmaker plans to showcase the X7 to the public at the 2019 Detroit Motor Show, which is usually held in January. We expect BMW to launch the SUV in our market in 2020. The X7 will take on the mighty Range Rover and the Mercedes-Benz GLS, among others.
Source: CarDekho.com
