Part of a company’s success relies on keeping a watchful eye on your competition and trying to stay one step ahead of them. With the launch of the new S-Class, Mercedes-Benz might have skipped at least two steps in front of its closest rivals, the Audi A8 and the BMW 7-Series, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be curious about the Bavarians’ offering.
The exterior design of the car wasn’t the best kept secret and so we have a pretty good idea about what it will look like – in one word, pretty disappointing. Well, those were two words, I guess, but you get the idea.
It will fall in line with the rest of the BMW range and, even though people seem to like this current design of the BMW models, you can’t help but feel a kind of deja vu with what happened to the Audi line-up a few years ago. Brand identity is being taken a bit too far and I do feel it’s starting to affect designers’ creativity.
The interior appears to be more of the same as well, apart from the dual interface for the infotainment system which will receive touchscreen capabilities along with the well know iDrive command system. To be honest, that’s one of our main curiosities about the car because I suppose sooner or later all BMW cars will get a version of it.
BMW is making big waves about the new technology being implemented into the new 7-Series and much of the talk is centered on weight reduction and modern materials being used for lowering the center of gravity. For instance, all heavy equipment is mounted as low and as centrally as possible, while the roof of the car uses aluminium and carbon fiber for lightness.
Regarding the power department, they say the new OKL platform can accommodate engines ranging from 4 to 12 cylinders, so both ends of this interval should make things interesting: a four cylinder 7-Series would surely be something to talk about, while a V12 limousine is never a car that you can mention and move on like nothing happened.
By the looks of it, though, the S-Class doesn’t really have any reasons of concern. The BMW 7-Series does promise to be a lot more comfortable than the current generation without loosing any of its sporty abilities, but whether it will be able to match the serenity of the S-Class and deliver better dynamic control at the same time, or fall short in any (or both) of these two categories remains to be seen. We’ll get a good impression on the 10th of June and an even better one once we get to drive it. Can’t wait for a comparison test between the BMW 7-Series and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class? Neither can we.
Here’s a little teaser, courtesy of BMW:
