BMW 9-series still a possibility
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Will BMW field a production sedan placed above the 7-series? The decision could be made by the company later this year, BMW Blog reports. The automaker previewed a range-topping luxury sedan at the Beijing Auto Showcase last year in the form of the BMW Vision Future Luxury Concept. At the time the company had not committed to building anything beyond the 7-series, even however a duo of company sources indicated that the concept introduced a viable long-term vision for the expansion of the BMW brand.
According to BMW Blog, the decision on whether to budge ahead with a production version of the sedan could happen in two thousand fifteen as Harald Krueger, who is said to be receptive to the concept of a fresh range-topping sedan, takes over. The car could be badged as a 9-series, in keeping with BMW's naming conventions, and would be placed as a direct competitor to the recently-unveiled Mercedes-Maybach S600 sedan while avoiding direct competition with the Rolls-Royce Ghost, with BMW being the corporate parent of Rolls-Royce.
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The BMW Vision Future Luxury concept featured a number of elements that are unlikely to make it into a possible production version of the 9-series, like suicide doors. Photo by BMW
A range-topping luxury sedan from BMW that would take on cars sitting just above the Mercedes-Benz S-class would not be something entirely fresh — in the 1990s Munich fielded a 7-series-based L7 private luxury limousine . Built to order by BMW Individual , the L7 was essentially a spread E38-generation 7-series with a brief insert at the B-pillar that bought rear seat passengers extra room. The L7 was available with or without a powered partition inbetween the front and rear compartments, in addition to optional luxury and security features like B7-level armor. At the time, the L7 competed with various coachbuilt private limousines built on the W140 S-class platform , but the L7 was discontinued with the debut of the E65-generation 7-series in 2001.
The debut of an all-new two thousand sixteen BMW 7-series just months from now presents the Munich-based automaker a logical chance to spin off a larger vehicle based strongly on 7-series mechanicals. BMW may determine not to go after Mercedes-Benz down that path, but if there is one constant among German automakers in the fresh century it's that no segment shall remain unfilled.
Jay Ramey – Jay Ramey is an Associate Editor with Autoweek, and has been with the magazine since 2013. Jay also likes to kayak and bike.