BMW is rolling out pre-production 2019 X7 SUVs at its Spartanburg, South Carolina assembly plant. The German luxury maker said it will show the production BMW X7 Sport Activity Vehicle–a new, ultra-premium 3-row luxury SUV–at the end of 2018.
The camouflaged pre-production X7s will be put through endurance testing and will be run in locations with extreme temperature and weather such as Death Valley in California, or on the ice and snow in Scandinavia. Photos of the pre-production, camouflaged X7s show a similar vehicle to the BMW X7 Concept iPerformance revealed at the 2017 Frankfurt auto show in Germany.
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Beneath the camo, the X7 SUV appears to have the same dual kidney shaped and chrome grille and long narrow headlamps as the show car. But, while it may not have the same large windows and giant panoramic glass roof as the concept, photos of the pre-production X7 show it has a sunroof over the first and second rows, with a separate piece of glass atop the back row. And significant parts of the rear of the concept also appear to carry over into the X7.
More details to come
The automaker said X7 technical details such as fuel consumption won’t be shared until later in 2018. Pricing also hasn’t been announced. The BMW X7 will be built on the same assembly line in Spartanburg as the X5 and X6 SUVs.
“We are proud to produce the BMW X7 here in Spartanburg, the home of our X models. This is a very special vehicle and our employees are looking forward to yet a further member of the X family,” said Knudt Flor, head of the BMW Spartanburg plant, in a statement. “Together with the BMW X7, a total of five BMW X models will be exported from Spartanburg to all four corners of the globe.”
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The facility currently builds 1,400 X3, X4, X5 and X6 SUVs a day. BMW is expected to add 1,000 jobs by 2021 at the plant, which has more than 9,000 employees. The factory, which began operations in 1994, is BMW’s largest plant globally. It produced more than 411,000 vehicles in 2016 and exports about 70 percent to 140 countries worldwide. The plant has annual production capacity of about 450,000 vehicles.
