The world has been waiting for a BMW M7 for quite some time now. Even though Mercedes-Benz has fully-fledged AMG models out on sale in the guise of the S63 or S65 versions of its S-Class, BMW doesn’t seem to be impressed. All this time, customers had the chance to buy the 760i model that could keep up in straight line performance and, starting this year, the M760Li xDrive model will bring yet even more performance to the table. But there’s also another alternative: the Alpina B7.
Unlike the M760Li xDrive, the Alpina offering has been around for decades, with the German tuner/manufacturer being at the forefront of ultra-fast sedan offerings for a long time. The current B7 is the fastest 7 Series in the world neck and neck with the official M Performance model from BMW. However, there are noticeable differences between the two.
Even though both accelerate to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 3.7 seconds from standstill, the Alpina uses a revised version of the 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 engine fitted on the 750i model. On the other hand, the BMW alternative has a 6.6-liter V12 under the hood good for 610 PS and 800 Nm (590 lb-ft) of torque. Yes, there’s just two horsepower between the two but the performance is absolutely similar.
Well, while the M760Li xDrive is still to be delivered around the world, the Alpina can already be had, with a configurator for the model now being available online, on the BMW USA website. As the Germans got us used to, the plethora of options you can choose from is darn impressive but isn’t exhaustively listed on the website. If you’re looking for a truly unique configuration, our suggestion would be to try and contact Alpina directly. The differences might be bigger than you expect.
