It’s coming up on four years since we first laid eyes on the imposing-looking seventh-generation BMW 7 Series and its electric counterpart, the i7, and that means it’s almost facelift time. We’ve had glimpses at the full-sized sedan’s refreshed look through both disguised prototypes and official teasers from BMW, but this new unofficial rendering, from digital artist Nicolás Cavero – @futurecarsnow on Instagram – gives us perhaps our best idea yet of what to expect.
The Grille’s Not Going Anywhere
Anyone hoping the updated 7 Series might follow in the footsteps of the new iX3 and i3 and adopt a smaller kidney grille arrangement than the gigantic snout the model’s had since its 2022 launch will be disappointed. That much has been clear since BMW officially teased the facelift a couple of weeks ago, showing that the massive grilles are still there in all their fully-illuminated glory.
Cavero has taken that grille, along with the reworked LED running lights seen in BMW’s teaser, and worked them onto his rendering, which also incorporates a more intricately angled bumper design inspired by the one found on BMW’s Neue Klasse EVs. The main headlight units, set lower down in the bumper, have been made smaller, something visible in the spy shots we’ve seen of the car.Â
If the rendering is on the money, then the side-by-side comparison with the outgoing car shows a design that’s a little cleaner overall, albeit not shying away from the 7 Series’ most controversial design element.
Coming Next Month
BMW
With the facelifted 7 Series’ debut at the 2026 Beijing Auto Show around a month away, details on the car are still scarce, but we expect the powertrain range – consisting of the inline-six 740i, V8 760i, plug-in hybrid 750e and electric i7 – to remain broadly the same, likely with the gas models dropping the ‘i’ from the end of their names in line with BMW’s new naming strategy.
A range-topping V8-powered M760 is also rumored to be joining the range, and BMW’s also confirmed that it’ll be one of the first models to get an Alpina derivative now that the former tuner is a fully-fledged part of BMW.
Lots to get excited about, then, even if the updated 7 is arriving at an unusual time for the full-size luxury sedan. While one of its traditional rivals, the Mercedes S-Class, has itself just had a major update, the other, Audi’s A8, is about to disappear without an immediate direct successor. Expect to hear full details on the new 7 Series when the Beijing Show opens on April 24.
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