After the E67 and F03, another armored 7 Series is getting its own codename, separate from the regular G70 available at your local BMW dealership. Known internally as the G73, the 7 Series Protection has been spied undergoing testing for the first time. The official reveal has already been confirmed to take place in the final quarter of the year in both ICE and EV configurations.
It is believed the conventionally powered 7 Series Protection will be sold strictly as an 760i xDrive. Judging by the quad exhaust tips of the prototype, the fullsize luxury sedan does seem to have the V8. By the way, BMW isn’t selling its flagship car with an eight-cylinder engine in Europe, which might mean the armored derivative could be the only way to get a 7er with the 4.4-liter engine.
In the United States, the V8 makes 544 horsepower and 750 Newton-meters (553 pound-feet) of torque in a vehicle that weighs 2,270 kilograms (5,004 pounds). Needless to say, the armored 760i xDrive will be substantially heavier and it’s certainly going to need that big engine to get going and escape an attack. The old V12 engine would’ve made more sense but the M760i is sadly no more in the latest 7 Series. How much is it going to weigh? We don’t know yet but the F03 tipped the scales at a whopping 3,450 kg (7,605 lbs).
How do we know it’s the Protection model and not just any other 7 Series? Well, seeing the 760i is already suspicious considering it’s a forbidden fruit but there are a couple of clues revealing its true identity. The car has a modified suspension since it rides visibly higher and we also notice the wheel arches have been slightly widened. Look closer and you’ll also spot a flag holder on the front fenders.
An i7 Protection is also coming, and much like the 760i xDrive, we’re fairly certain it won’t be listed in the configurator. The new armored version should be at least as safe as the X5 Protection VR6 unveiled back in 2019. BMW has been developing specialty vehicles for decades as the 733i High Security (E23) came out back in 1978 but there were also similar models based on the 3 Series and 5 Series.
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