BMW’s new 7 Series EV is a tech fest with a ton to ride – Rob Report

Putting our best foot forward on a tour of the architectural masterpieces in Palm Springs, California, we finally arrive at Home of Tomorrow. In the year Built in 1960, the mansion is also known as the Elvis and Priscilla Honeymoon Hideaway and looks like a spaceship rising above the cul-de-sac. It’s a fitting destination for the 2023 BMW i7 xDrive60 during its global launch based on Rancho Mirage Road.

The first fully electric 7 Series shares the refined aesthetic of its gasoline-powered, 48-volt mild-hybrid siblings, the 740i and 760i xDrive. The regular profile is relieved only by a crease here and a small cut there. The car is more like a Homburg hat with a five-foot-high panoramic roof instead of the Chapeau Crown’s “Gator Crown.” But the interior shines like a carnival.

A recent renovation has turned the house of tomorrow back to its original white. If the i7’s quad, the narrower LED headlights can cast holographic images out of the film even further. Blue Hawaii From that front, the only thing missing from this entrance theater is popcorn (but they’re working on that back in Munich).

Sitting in the back seat area, the so-called Executive Lounge has built-in 5.5-inch control modules in the door armrests. Amazon Fire TV is included, and the car is 5G compatible for high-definition streaming. And a 1,965-watt Bowers & Wilkins system with up to 36 speakers, as well as “exciters” in the rear seats for an expanded viewing experience.

The i7 also offers BMW IconicSounds Electric, an original score exclusive to the car, with a choice of Spay Sport Sound (ideal for driving through canyons on Mars) and Relaxing Sound (what you’d expect to hear in the lobby). say the Ritz-Carlton).

We brought the i7 home tomorrow without going from zero to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds or with a top speed of 149 mph. Instead, we slipped through the city traffic. The biggest struggle was adjusting micro-tasks through the 14.9-inch curved display screen. More practice is required – and the same for automatic doors. Meanwhile, discover the interactive bar that stretches across the dashboard: a stylish new type of control for adjusting the four-zone climate control and other functions.

Even at a 40 percent charge, range is still 388 miles short of the maximum. The 101.7 kW battery is filled with prismatic cells of different heights (up to 110 mm) and is inserted into a discreet interior, and the front and rear electric motors feed them for a combined power of 544 hp and 549 ft lbs, all-wheel drive. In other words, the i7 can hurt along with its estimated £5,985 chorus line. Tomorrow’s house-era pink Cadillac is at least 1,000 pounds lighter overall, but the i7 has driver aids like Maneuver Assistant (for automatic parking), which helps reduce its height.

Sophisticated and sophisticated, the i7 rings up a $113,600 tab, which seems generous when GMC has two trucks — the Hummer EV Edition 1 and the Sierra EV — that are more than a hundred percent generous.

Before the mid-century-modern tour, I caught up with BMW CEO Oliver Zipsen on a chauffeured i7 tour around Rancho Mirage. Zipps came after making the Rolls-Royce announcement at Goodwood and will soon be heading to South Carolina for a $1.7 billion new investment in the giant operation there. A little-known fact about him: In 1983, after finishing high school in Germany, he moved with his family to Salt Lake City, Utah.

“All kids are allowed to have some free time at the University of Utah,” he said with a hearty laugh. His offseason includes math and computer science, but “if that’s your talent, you shouldn’t push yourself too hard,” he said. A hard push was reserved for the Alta and Snowbird slopes.

As CEO of BMW since 2019, Zipps will lead the company through the pandemic, including the development of the new 7 Series. It refers to the controversial practice of building electric and gas models on the same dual-purpose structure, which leaves so much “scar tissue” that the recently introduced i4, the same size as Tesla’s Model 3, weighs 1,000. Pounds more. Zipsey, however, points out that BMW is active in 140 global markets, and a single-platform, multi-variable approach is justified.

“Designing a car for one market can cost a manufacturer a lot,” he said, adding that BMW now has 3.4 percent of the global market (up from 2.9 percent during his tenure) and has produced nearly 2.5 million cars. Vehicles per year. “For us, it’s a wrong move. We’re very glad we took that. [dual-purpose platform] way”

In July, BMW stopped production of the revolutionary but slow-selling i3, but Zipps cites it as a teaching example. The boxcar, he says, was a good way to educate the company on electromobility. While sending a “huge push across the organization”, it nevertheless “stands on BMW’s side” due to various manufacturing processes, including the carbon fiber chassis. “And then the question is, ‘Are you going to keep moving to the sidelines, or are you going to go to the heart of BMW?’ And finally we decided. That means you are. [don’t have to] Divide your company into electricity and electricity. You won’t survive that.”

After some time in the 760i xDrive60, I concluded that the car’s standard appearance – aimed at the Chinese market – where 45 percent of production is sold – might grow on me. And the single-platform strategy makes sense for now, especially considering that, during a stopover at Goodwood, Zipps told Bloomberg Media that “hydrogen is going to be the best thing to drive as it expands.” A hydrogen powered 7 series perhaps? Now that sounds like the perfect vehicle for tomorrow’s driveway.

Click here for more photos of the 2023 BMW i7 xDrive60.