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Those who do their daily shopping within the pages of the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book will be the first able to purchase the new 2009 BMW 7 Series beginning October 17th. The price of early adoption in this case will be a steep $160,000 for one of 31 Neiman Marcus Limited-Edition 2009 BMW Individual 7 Series sedans based on the new 750Li. While that price is tens of thousands above what we expect the 7 Series base price to be, buyers will get much more than just the car. Included in the asking price is a trip to Europe to take delivery of the special 7 Series at BMW’s headquarters in Munich, after which buyers will tour the south of France in their new sedan. After the fun and frolicking, BMW will have the car shipped back to the U.S. for you. And, of course, you aren’t just purchasing a standard 7 Series. Each model has been customized by BMW Individual and painted in a special Diopside Black metallic color with an interior stitched in Champagne Merino leather and accented with wood and Piano Black inserts. Is all that worth 160 large? That depends on how nice you want Christmas to be this year.

With the arrival of the BMW 7 Series ActiveHybrid, which will make its initial debut at the Paris Motor Show, both BMW and Mercedes-Benz are set to enter the luxury hybrid market that has so far only seen action in the form of the Lexus LS600h. Although BMW was one of the brands that helped develop the sophisticated Two-Mode hybrid system that’s currently being used in the full-size ‘utes from both GM and Chrysler, the Bavarian automaker has chosen instead to equip its 7 Series with the same mild hybrid architecture that it helped to develop and is used by cross-country rival Daimler. Like the S400 BlueHYBRID, a 120-volt lithium ion battery will be kept underhood along with a small helper motor that’s hooked up to the engine, in the case of the BMW, a twin-turbocharged, direct injected 4.4-liter V8. Expect well over 400-horsepower from the gas/electric combo along with combined fuel mileage in the low 20’s.

After seeing numerous exterior spy shots and renderings of BMW’s upcoming 2009 7 Series and hearing details about the drivetrain, we finally have what appears to be a spy shot of the new 7’s interior. Like the exterior, it appears to be rather subdued for a modern BMW. As we had previously heard, the joystick gear lever has moved back to its rightful position in the center console between the seats. Although the woodgrain and some of the panels don’t line up all that well, we’re not concerned about it considering that this is obviously not a production model yet. We’re also happy to see that the iDrive screen is better integrated into the dash. While we generally favor a clean, uncluttered look, we wonder how this new and more simple design ethos will resonate with the luxury car buyers that are BMW’s target audience. Thanks for the tip, Luke!
[Source: E90Post.com]

We don’t know if the shot you see above is an official picture of the new F01 BMW 7 Series or not, but it looks to be a pretty accurate rendition of what we’ve seen so far in spy shots. The front of the car apes the design language of the BMW CS Concept rather nicely, with dual oversized kidney-shaped grilles dominating the rather sedate-looking headlights. The sides are mostly devoid of flame surfacing, with a high character line drawing the eyes to the rear where the bangle-butt of the old model gets major lipo. We also note that the design mimics the current high-beltline trend, reducing the total surface area of glass considerably.

All-in-all, this appears to be a rather conservative design as compared with the CS Concept, along with BMW’s other efforts over the last few years. We’ll reserve final judgement for the day we get to see the new 7 Series in the flesh, of course, perhaps in September at the Paris Auto Show. Thanks for the tip, Brett!

[Source: BimmerFile]