Given the fact that the current G11/G12 incarnations of the BMW 7 Series, you might wonder why BMW is already testing the facelifted incarnation of the luxury sedan.
The LCI (Life Cycle Impulse) version of the 7er has been spotted doing its thing in German traffic earlier today and the obvious answer to the question above comes from the stiff competition the Bavarian flagship saloon is facing.
Keep in mind that Audi has introduced an all-new generation of the A8, while the also-fresh 2018 Mercedes-Benz S-Class has marked the three-pointed star's return to straight-six motors.
In the purest German tradition, the visual changes delivered by the revamp won't be significant. And while the prototype we can see in these spyshots doesn't pack the final headlights, but this obviously signals the designer's intentions to update the front light clusters.
As for the front and rear fascias of the test car, these are heavily covered, but we could see BMW coming up with a more dramatic approach. The massive styling cues we noticed on the X7 Concept iPerformance might just serve as inspiration for the production cues of the LCI-touched BMW 7 Series.
With BMW having kicked off testing for an autonomous 7 Series earlier this year, you can expect fresh self-driving assets for the revamped model we're looking at.
Given the fact that we shouldn't deal with any major changes, we could see the German automotive producer dropping the revamped 7er by 2019. For one thing, this means you shouldn't expect any breakthrough in the powertrain department, with the engineers probably set to bring slight efficiency and/or output boosts across the board.
We'll certainly get our hands on more spy material regarding the facelifted BMW 7 Series in the coming months.
Keep in mind that Audi has introduced an all-new generation of the A8, while the also-fresh 2018 Mercedes-Benz S-Class has marked the three-pointed star's return to straight-six motors.
In the purest German tradition, the visual changes delivered by the revamp won't be significant. And while the prototype we can see in these spyshots doesn't pack the final headlights, but this obviously signals the designer's intentions to update the front light clusters.
As for the front and rear fascias of the test car, these are heavily covered, but we could see BMW coming up with a more dramatic approach. The massive styling cues we noticed on the X7 Concept iPerformance might just serve as inspiration for the production cues of the LCI-touched BMW 7 Series.
What about the rest of the car?
Since we're talking about the 7 Series here, the carmaker will obviously pay extra attention to the cabin changes brought by the refresh.With BMW having kicked off testing for an autonomous 7 Series earlier this year, you can expect fresh self-driving assets for the revamped model we're looking at.
Given the fact that we shouldn't deal with any major changes, we could see the German automotive producer dropping the revamped 7er by 2019. For one thing, this means you shouldn't expect any breakthrough in the powertrain department, with the engineers probably set to bring slight efficiency and/or output boosts across the board.
We'll certainly get our hands on more spy material regarding the facelifted BMW 7 Series in the coming months.