Filed under: Spy Photos, Sedans/Saloons, BMW

The next 7-Series could say goodbye to its current bluff-sided barge proportions. According to the latest renderings, a lower, wider, larger car swoops up from a front that takes cues from the CS concept to a rear in which there are no remaining traces of the Bangle Butt.

We have always been fans of the 7-Series, and would greatly welcome a return to elegance — even if it’s the brutish elegance of this rendering. We would also welcome a new interior, and word is that it will be equally redone. And that (pesky) iDrive? The annoying knob will be made ever more user friendly we’re told, which shouldn’t be too difficult considering the starting point. It appears the last user friendly upgrade to the iDrive wasn’t as friendly as BMW thought. This time it will also get Google Maps and iPhone connectivity. Intriguingly, the gear shift could return to the center console instead of being on the steering column stalk.

Engines will start out at 3.0 liters (probably gas and diesel variants, but still not for the States, most likely), jump to a V8 with a 47-HP boost over the current model, and top out at an even more powerful 6.0-liter V12. Expect the car to debut next year as a 2009 model, so we should see its debut at an auto show early in the season.

[Source: eGM Car Tech]

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Filed under: Spy Photos, Sedans/Saloons, BMW

Chris Bangle is now chief of design for the BMW Group. Without his hand directly penning the coming crop of new BMWs, new man on campus Adrian van Hooydonk — who answers to Bangle — is slowly erasing some of Bangle’s more controversial contributions.

Though you can’t really tell from Car magazine’s spy shots of the next 5-Series, they’ve been told that “the new 5-series won’t be anywhere near as radical as today’s E60.” With the redesign of the current 7-Series being talked up as a return to traditional elegance, we can probably expect the same from the 5-Series. The car will get a smidge longer, and up front you’ll get traces of Concept CS styling, as well as LED eyebrows over the headlights.

What you might not expect is a much greener 5. It will get the roundel’s Efficient Dynamics at no extra cost, which shuts off the engine when the car is stopped and unhooks the alternator when the battery is fully charged. It might also get a high-efficiency gearbox with eight — that’s right, a Lexus-like eight — forward gears. Beyond that, there will be likely be many high-tech aids and five engine choices ranging from a 245-HP 3-liter diesel to the 5-liter 500-HP V10 in the M5. Thanks for the tip, Dave!

[Source: Car magazine]

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