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Bruce Newton14 May 2015
NEWS

BMW backs 7 Series leadership

But says the rate of technological change and the rise of the SUV are challenges

The 7 Series limousine will remain the pinnacle of BMW’s range despite the rapidly increasing rate of technological evolution and the rising global sales of SUVs, insists one of the company’s most senior global executives.

Hendrik von Kuenheim, the BMW Group's senior vice-president of Asia, Pacific and South Africa, was speaking to media in Melbourne last week, only days after a board-level final ride and drive sign-off of the new G11-generation 7 Series that makes its global debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September and goes on-sale in Australia early in 2016.

motoring.com.au published an undisguised photo of the new 7 Series earlier this week and the first official tranche of official information came from BMW on the luxury car in April.

“We signed that (G11) off last week at the board — final test drives were done,” von Kuenheim confirmed.

“It is the ultimate benchmark in comfort, in fuel-efficiency, in acceleration, in interior noise; that car is on a different standard,” he claimed.

G11 innovations are expected to include a carbon-fibre reinforced plastic body that contributes to a substantial 200kg weight loss, the use of a four-cylinder engine for the first time in a 7 Series including a plug-in version, Gesture Control and Remote Control Parking, which allows owners to 'drive' their 7 Series into and out of a parking space via the BMW Display Key and state-of-the-art laser headlights also offered with the i8 hybrid coupe.

But while both the 7 Series and its Mercedes-Benz equivalent, the S-Class, have traditionally been the first home of new tech, Benz bucked that trend by introducing gear into an E-Class update in 2013 ahead of the roll-out of the latest W222 S-Class.

But von Kuenheim insisted that would not be the case for the 7 Series, although he said more frequent updates would be required for it to retain its pre-eminent role.

“The 7 Series will always be technology leadership,” he said. “It will get a lot more frequent updates on the cars as new technology, but will always be the pinnacle, as it is for Mercedes with the S-Class, which is also a bloody good car.

“That is the total competence which is available in the German motor industry.”

Von Kuenheim also conceded the 7’s period of exclusivity for new technology would inevitably be lessened.

“The pace of change is ever increasing, it is rapid. When in the past you had a technology which was expensive and you could only justify it in a luxury high-end car, you had exclusivity for one or two years before it went down to the competitors or the segment below.

“Today you only have months for the new technology; laser light for example, which we have on the i8 and the 7 Series. It is still very expensive and maybe only a year (of exclusivity).

“When you look back through the history xenon light took a long time to get down to the medium segment and today every car manufacturer has it.”

The other threat to the 7 Series’ dominance is the encroaching importance and rising sales of luxury SUVs — something acknowledged by BMW’s announcement it is developing the X7 as a big brother to the X5 and rival for the Mercedes-Benz GL.

“There is no question the SUV in most markets in the world is increasing and increasing and increasing and increasing,” said von Kuenheim. “There are some markets like Korea where they are still very small and there seems to be still big sedan luxury market where the 7 Series and the S-Class are by far the preferred choice.

“It is totally different in Russia — you go to Moscow and it is all SUVs.

“That is the reason for some markets BMW will build the X7, which will be substantially different to the X5. And if you look at the markets where we will sell it there are probably only five or six big markets in the world as it is largely driven by America and Russia and China. Australia will be one of the big markets.”

Image originally posted on www.bimmertoday.de

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