BMW’s heaviest SUV and heaviest vehicle won’t arrive until next year with the production version of the XM SUV. Australian outlet Sale of cars spoke with BMW 7 Series Project Manager Christoph Fagschlunger about BMWs developing the mass and gravitational pull of minor planets.
The new battery-electric 2023 BMW i7 weighs 5,820 pounds. To be fair, that’s only 132 pounds heavier than the battery-electric Mercedes-AMG EQS and 66 pounds heavier than a Rolls-Royce Phantom EWB. It also weighs 159 pounds more than the most powerful version of the 2023 X7, the M60i. Fagschlunger said the end of embongging is near, “I don’t think cars will get any heavier than they are now, and there are many reasons for that.”
While electrification is responsible for a sudden increase in vehicle weight, it’s worth remembering that enthusiasts (like us) have been moaning about heavier cars for at least 15 years. The main culprits are not batteries, but luxury features, safety equipment, the growing adoption of all-wheel drive, and the popularity of crossovers and SUVs. “Cars were getting heavier even without electrification, with safety regulations, then NCAP and then luxury,” Fagschlunger said. He explained that a modern luxury seat weighs at least 88 pounds more than 20 years ago, with Car Sales adding that some seats are over 220 pounds. Those 22-way motors, massage mechanisms, and air conditioning equipment are cumbersome. This became a sharp safety issue, as heavier vehicles needed heavier structures to pass increasingly rigorous crash tests.
But the BMW engineer thinks the tech will start to shave pounds off the rigs with advancements like more energy-dense batteries and wider use of active noise cancellation (soundproofing is heavy). Vendors are working on features like in-vehicle audio that uses the architecture as speakers, instead of loading a car with woofers and tweeters (speakers are also heavy). Let’s hope the diet starts before the industry hits the wall. Fagschlunger warns that it is imminent: “The size of cars will come to a natural end one day, when you can no longer fit into the garage or turn around the corner. That day is approaching.
If you want to see how far the 7 Series has come, PD Evolution has just released an eight-minute walkthrough of the evolution of the executive sedan since its debut in 1977 – when it weighed “just” 3,527 pounds. .
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