Bmw’s 7-series Is Getting A Neue Look, But It Won’t Let Go Of The Past

A refresh of the BMW 7-Series is just around the corner, and from early glimpses, it looks set to address some of the aesthetic missteps of the outgoing model. Or so we hope. While BMW is pushing deeper into its Neue Klasse future, the 7-Series won’t be swept up in the full revolution just yet. Instead, it’s in line for a more restrained facelift.

Read: BMW Cuts Its Grille But Not Its Critics In Upcoming 7 Series Facelift

Midway through last year, spy shots began to surface showing the updated 7-Series during testing. Although the prototypes were heavily camouflaged, key design details have been clear enough to identify. The overall shape remains familiar, with the luxury sedan retaining its signature split-headlight layout and imposing kidney grilles.

Front-End Evolution

Sugar Design

And while we wait for BMW to start peeling back the camouflage, new renderings from Sugar Design offer a clearer look at what the 2027 7-Series might bring.

Surprisingly, the kidney grilles appear slightly taller than those on the current model. The Rolls-Royce-style vertical slats are gone, replaced with black horizontal bars that give the front end a cleaner, more pointed presence. The grille edges have also been sharpened slightly, giving the face a meaner expression.

Sugar Design

Then there are the headlights. Most of BMW’s Neue Klasse models will have headlights that flow neatly into gloss-black panels, which then join the small kidneys. That’s not the case here. Instead, thin LED daytime running lights are positioned near the shut line of the hood. They’ve been updated with new signatures.

Sugar Design

The main headlamps are then positioned below, shrinking significantly and roughly just half the size of the current model’s lights. A more aggressive bumper has also been designed for the car.

As is expected of facelift models, the sides will go mostly unchanged, but there will be some tweaks to the rear. These will include new LED taillights and a different bumper, imagined here with contrasting black and silver elements for a slightly sportier finish.

The current G70/G73 BMW 7-Series.

Waiting on the Full Neue Treatment

It’s a shame that we will have to wait for the next-generation 7-Series to see it adopt the full raft of upgrades that other Neue Klasse models will have. The current version has drawn plenty of criticism for its styling and doesn’t hold up well next to sleeker rivals from Audi and Mercedes-Benz, which is also preparing a facelift for the S-Class later this month. Still, even a mild refresh may help soften some of those harsh lines. For now, any improvement is welcome.

Illustrations Sugar Design