BMW will preview the form and key design parts of the next-generation 7 Collection in an idea automobile to be displayed on the Munich auto present in September, an organization supply informed Automotive Information Europe.

The idea would be the first BMW Group automobile to be primarily based on the Neue Klasse, or New Class, structure, which is designed to be primarily full-electric however may also accommodate diesel or gasoline engines, together with plug-in hybrids.

The highly flexible and scalable platform is designed to permit extra aerodynamic designs – necessary for electrical automobile vary – with completely different proportions and extra spacious interiors. Will probably be used for all new fashions within the group’s vary, from BMWs to Rolls-Royces, beginning in 2025.

The structure will supply rear-wheel drive as customary, with the choice so as to add front-wheel drive to supply all-wheel drive.

The BMW group supply didn’t supply extra particulars in regards to the idea to be displayed on the IAA Mobility present in Munich, which opens to the information media on Sept. 6 and public on Sept. 7. 

The 7 Collection has been the BMW model’s flagship sedan for the reason that first era debuted within the late Seventies. The present era, which debuted in 2015, ranked second within the higher premium phase in Europe in 2020, with 6,348 gross sales, ending behind the full-electric Porsche Taycan, with 12,017 gross sales, and forward of the Audi A7 (5,787 gross sales) and the full-electric Mannequin S (5,605 gross sales), in keeping with knowledge from JATO Dynamics. 

The 7 Collection topped its conventional sedan rivals, the Mercedes S Class (5,360 gross sales) and the Audi A8 (3,633 gross sales).  

Mercedes launched a brand new era of the S-Class final yr and this yr unveiled the EQS, an S-Class sized full-electric flagship model.

The New Class structure would be the central pillar in BMW’s plan to have full-electric fashions account for at the very least 50 p.c of world deliveries by 2030, with all its mannequin collection providing a battery-power possibility. “By 2030, we are going to cut back our carbon footprint per automobile by at the very least a 3rd from 2019 ranges,” CEO Oliver Zipse stated earlier this yr.

“The Neue Klasse will deliver quite a lot of very completely different and shocking autos,” Zipse stated. “It represents a decisive step within the transformation of your organization and features a new automobile structure that’s uncompromisingly tailor-made to electrical drivetrains.”

Over time, the New Class will substitute BMW’s present two architectures: the smaller UKL (front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive) platform used for BMW compact vehicles and by bigger Minis, and the bigger CLAR (rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive), used for the remainder of the BMW vary. 

The UKL and CLAR architectures had been initially developed for combustion engines, together with plug-in hybrid vehicles. They got a considerable overhaul with a brand new central ground to accommodate batteries for full-electric and plug-in hybrid choices.

The CLAR platform was revised final yr with the introduction of the iX3 midsize full-electric SUV. The approaching i4 midsize electrical sedan and iX flagship electrical SUV, each due this yr, use this platform. Full-electric variations of the 5 Collection and seven Collection will observe within the subsequent few years earlier than the New Class platform is rolled out.