Eight years is a long time in any industry. In the car business, it’s practically a geological era. BMW knows this, which is why the X7, the brand’s three-row flagship SUV, is getting a full generational overhaul, with the second-gen model, internally coded G67, expected to roll off the production line sometime in the summer or fall of 2027.
And if the early spy shots and digital renderings are anything to go by, BMW has been busy. Though not entirely sure which direction to run in. The new X7 will plant itself squarely in Neue Klasse territory, adopting the sharper, more futuristic design language BMW has been rolling out across its electric lineup. At the same time, it borrows cues from the refreshed 7 Series, including more refined light signatures reminiscent of limited-edition halo cars like the Skytop. The result is a vehicle that looks like it’s one foot in 2025 and the other somewhere around 2032.
Proportions stay largely the same. This is still a big, three-row SUV built to haul seven people in the kind of comfort that makes commercial aviation feel like a punishment. A slight increase in length is suggested by prototype sightings, but nothing dramatic. What does change, dramatically, are the surfaces. The front and rear ends are almost entirely redesigned, while the side profile gets cleaner, more sculpted lines. The oversized kidney grille survives, because apparently some traditions are sacred.
The genuinely surprising detail? Flush door handles are out. In their place: small wing-shaped flaps just below the side windows, a solution already seen on the Skytop and, rather less glamorously, on the Ford Mustang Mach-E.
Inside, the X7 will debut BMW’s Panoramic iDrive system, a full-width head-up display at the base of the windshield paired with a tablet-style infotainment screen, already featured on the new i3 and iX3. Physical controls will be reduced further, because apparently buttons are the new carburetors.
BMW’s North American dealers are reportedly pushing for an even larger X9 to go head-to-head with the Cadillac Escalade and Lincoln Navigator. If that happens, the X7 might soon find itself no longer the biggest fish in BMW’s pond.
