Buckle up because BMW is about you take you on a very extravagant ride. To celebrate its centenary year, the German luxury automaker is building 100 individually numbered and hand-finished 7 series sedans.
The BMW Individual 7 Series THE NEXT 100 YEARS – to give the car its full and somewhat unwieldy name – will be available in two- or four-wheel drive and three engine choices: 4.4-liter TwinPower Turbo V8, plug-in hybrid, or the wild 6.6-liter TwinPower Turbo V12 with its 610 horses. Actually, the car is offered on a choice of three platforms, which you will have already guessed if you know your Bimmers. These are, in order, the BMW 740Le iPerformance, 750Li, (both with or without xDrive), and of course the M760Li xDrive. Ok, to be honest, we really don’t like The Next 100 Years name and will join the chorus of voices across the Internet in asking BMW to consider changing it. Aside from being SEO-unfriendly, it is more importantly clunky, confusing and uninspiring. Our house style for example means we have to drop the upper case spelling.
To put it another way, for this very special occasion, BMW went the extra mile and looked to Hamburg-based luxury goods brand Montblanc for a meaningful collaboration. If BMW wants to give the world a hand-finished automobile with such lavish details that require (brand name) outside partners then it should put a little more care into the name. After all, a centennial comes around but once every hundred years.
Anyway, Montblanc is bringing its renowned flair for creating writing instruments to the table with a centennial fountain pen for each prospective Next 100 Years owner, using the same design features, materials and paint finishes that will adorn the customized car.
Now this car has all the bells and whistles you would expect from BMW – every equipment specification comes standard here – but the feeling behind the whole effort is decidedly old school. Old World even. The car’s interior is blanketed in contrasting black and “Smoke White” fine-grain Merino leather and it of course features remote-controlled parking and other clever innovations.
The car’s exterior is where the Old World quirkiness comes into play because that lovely blue finish you see here is the only one available. It is a special coat for the anniversary and as such is a standard feature. In short, if you are looking for this in salmon pink well, good luck… The forged lightweight 20-inch alloy wheels with a V-spoke design and handcrafted badges are also standard.
The cherry on this very decadent-yet-restrained sundae comes in the form of a plaque denoting the model’s number, between one and 100, on the center console’s cup holder cover so everyone, inside and out, is well aware your vehicle is a limited edition production.
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