New BMW 7 Series slims down for 2015

The new BMW 7 Series, due in 2015, will use carbon fibre and other lightweight technology borrowed from the manufacturer’s i brand to help reduce weight.

Director of BMW Group Design, Adrian van Hooydonk, told us: “Things that we’ve learned in the i brand, in terms of carbon fibre and lightweight construction, that too will filter into the other brands. Next year we are launching a car where we have really worked hard to lower the weight, and that was partly achieved with carbon fibre.”

While van Hooydonk wouldn’t say which model it would be, a spokesman confirmed that it was likely to be the new 7 Series, with the technology then expected to make its way down through the rest of the range in the future.

The i brand know-how and reduced weight will also help to lower the car’s emissions and improve fuel efficiency without BMW having to tamper too much with the engine and other key parts.

It’s not just the weight-saving materials that will eventually make their way into mainstream BMW models, though; the drivetrain technology from the i3 and i8 will also be used.

“We believe that the type of hybrid mobility that the i8 offers, where you have a seamless change between electric driver and petrol drive, that will one day be quite a normal part of all of our cars,” van Hooydonk explained.

“Then there will be a certain amount of purely electric vehicles, something that we now offer in the i3.”

Van Hooydonk also told us that there was room for the i range to expand further in the future.

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