BMW recently brought a bunch of dealers to Nashville, Tennessee, for its North American retailers meeting, where the Bavarians showed off a bunch of upcoming models. According to Auto News, those dealers had quite a lot to say about the new Bimmers, and there are some interesting notes to report. Most importantly, the next generation X5 is losing its split rear tailgate, a design that BMW owners and fans have loved for decades.
That might be frustrating to hear, especially from recurring BMW X5 customers, but apparently dealers seemed confident BMW’s direction. “It’s a franchise that is hitting on all cylinders,” said someone who was at the meeting, but chose to remain anonymous. “BMW has an incredible product cadence, and they understand what sells in the U.S. market.”
Another big SUV that seems to have changed quite a bit is the new X7. According to reports from the meeting, the new BMW X7 sets itself apart from its siblings by being bolder looking and more “wagon-like.” One of the people there said “It’s like they’re completely different animals now.” That’s music to my ears, as the X7’s only real flaw is that it’s a bit ungainly looking. It’s a bit too tall at the back end, and short up front, so it looks lopsided and awkward. The flip-side of that is the cavernous headroom it has, so the new one might lose some of that in the name of a more wagony body style. However, that’s a sacrifice I’m personally willing to make (at the expense of other peoples’ wallets, of course).
In addition to the regular X7, there was also an Alpina version on hand, along with an Alpina 7 Series. Whether they’re still named XB7 and B7, respectively, is yet to be confirmed, but they’re said to look a bit more like M cars than traditional BMWs, just a bit more refined. Unsurprising, given that’s sort of always how Alpinas have looked, but it would be nice to see BMW visually separate the two sub-brands more.
Mini made a few appearances at the meeting, too, as BMW showed off a few special edition models and new trim packages. While all of that is pretty standard, the reported “rally-inspired” special edition certainly sounds fun. Dealers seem confident that Mini will return to form with, back to the successful days right after BMW re-launched the brand, but it won’t happen right away. One person at the meeting said that Mini will “back on track.”
A lot of change is happening at BMW, with the Neue Klasse debuting, with the i3 and iX3, as well as most of its model line getting replacements soon enough. Let’s just hope BMW more inspiration from the i3 and not the iX3 moving forward.
