BMW X7 SUV confirmed to top BMW’s X Range

The arrival of a range-topping, seven-seat BMW X7 has been confimed as BMW reveal plans to built it at their Spartanburg Plant in South Carolina.

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The idea for BMW to build an SUV bigger than the X5 was put on ice when the world’s economy went in to meltdown in 2008, but the idea of a range-topping BMW X7 was back on the cards as long ago as 2010.

Now, four years on, BMW has confirmed that they are planning an X7, that it will be built at their Spartanburg Plant in South Carolina and that it will arrive in 2017 or 2018.

BMW aren’t prepared to divulge what platform the X7 will use, but it looks likely it will arrive on a revised version of the platform used for the next generation BMW 7-Series, a platform that will likely also be utilised for the new Rolls Royce SUV when that arrives, with the announcement of the X7 making a Rolls Royce SUV even more likely.

In Europe and the UK the new ‘X’ will have very few rivals, with only the Mercedes GL and the Range Rover as big (although the Range Rover doesn’t come with sevens eats) and as direct competition.

But in markets like the US – much bigger markets for full-size SUVs like the X7 – there will be competition from cars like the Lexus LX 570 and Infiniti QX80 as well as home-grown stuff like the Cadillac Escalade and Lincoln Navigator.

BMW has also revealed that as part of a $1 billion investment in the Spartanburg plant, productiuon capacity will increase to 450,000 units and the BMW X5 plug-in Hybrid – previewed by the recent BMW Concept5 X5 eDrive – will start production there too in the near future.

Which all goes to show that the car world is not all about more and more compact SUVs and crossovers after all.