BMW X7 official 'SPY' photos show BMW's Range Rover challenger testing

BMW X7 official ‘SPY’ photos show BMW’s Range Rover challenger testing

BMW has revealed photos of the pre-production X7 as its US plant churns out cars for engineers to test ahead of a likely X7 debut at Paris 2018.

The BMW X7 was previewed at the Frankfurt Motor Show in the autumn – as the Concept X7 iPerformance – as BMW finally bit the bullet and threw itself in to the same marketplace as the Range Rover.

But the Concept X7 was just that, a concept, and now BMW has to take time to shake it down and turn it in to a production car, probably for a reveal at the Paris Motor Show in autumn 2018.

So BMW’s Spartanburg Plant in the US has been busy churning out X7 pre-production models for engineers to take away and use and abuse, with endless miles of testing in extremes of climate and terrain to ensure the X7, when it does arrive, is bullet proof.

BMW has used this news as an excuse to deliver some ‘Spy’ shots of the X7, and although they’re covered in the de rigueur black and white camouflage, it doesn’t look to stray too far from the concept.

Whether BMW’s X7 will be any more successful at convincing the world it’s a better bet than a Range Rover remains to be seen, but it will at least give BMW a competitor for the Mercedes GLS.

Unlike the Range Rover, the X7 will come with three rows of seats, and although the headline from the concept was a plug-in hybrid powertrain, we can certainly expect a range of petrol and diesel versions to be available when the X7 debuts too.

No doubt, as BMW continue to test the X7, we’ll get additional morsels of information and ‘spy’ shots.