BMW’s first all-electric 7 collection begins at $120,295 | Engadget

BMW is not letting Mercedes’ EQS go unanswered. The German marque has introduced its first fully electrical 7 collection, the i7 xDrive60. The long-wheelbase luxurious sedan gives strong efficiency, with a dual-motor setup offering 536HP, a 0-60MPH dash in 4.5 seconds and a preliminary EPA vary of 300 miles. As with the traditional 7 collection, although, the main target is on creature comforts — that is designed as a lot for chauffeured executives as it’s for drivers.

That driver will see a curved dual-display interface that features a 12.3-inch instrument panel and a 14.9-inch infotainment display. BMW is touting a smartphone-like interface, however you may additionally discover a new “Interaction Bar” that gives touch-sensitive controls for widespread options like local weather settings and hazard lights. You may even customise the bar’s lighting to react to sure occasions, equivalent to incoming calls or invoking BMW’s Intelligent Personal Assistant (together with from the rear seats, for the primary time).

As we talked about, although, the perfect expertise is probably going within the again. Spring for the elective Theater Screen and you will get a 31-inch, 32:9 ratio 8K rear show with a Fire TV interface. Rear window shades will even shut if you swap the system on. Each rear door has its personal 5.5-inch touchscreen for local weather, media and seating controls, whereas a normal panoramic LED roof can produce a lightweight present along with displaying the sky above. You’ll have entry to 5G, together with a “Personal eSIM” that may migrate between vehicles. 

Other tech upgrades embrace an elective Highway Assistant (a part of a Driving Assistance Professional Package) that gives hands-free driving as much as 80MPH, a better Parking Assistant Professional with distant management and a Maneuver Assistant that may replicate difficult driving situations (equivalent to a decent parking storage). An augmented actuality view on the instrument display merges video with instructions and comparable data, whereas the doorways will each detect potential hazards and (with an alternative choice) robotically open by touching the handles or Interaction Bar. Owners of current, UWB-equipped iPhones also can use Digital Key Plus to robotically lock and unlock the doorways, and finally open the doorways or activate the alarm system.

Unsurprisingly, this extra will price you. The i7 xDrive60 will begin at $120,295 ($119,300 plus a vacation spot price) when it reaches the US within the fourth quarter of the yr, and that is earlier than you add extras just like the 36-speaker Bowers & Wilkins Diamond Surround Sound System. That’s not an outlandish worth for BMW’s target market, although, and it undercuts the $125,900 of the EQS 580.