Just a few days ago we announced that the BMW M550i model was going put on hold due to the tightening environmental laws the BMW Group has to abide by. Now it looks like yet another M Performance model will go out of production in the future. According to one of our trusted sources in Munich, BMW plans to pull the V12 engine of the BMW M760Li xDrive model out of production once the facelift for the 7 Series comes around.
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According to our timeline, the facelifted 7er will be launched next year and that means you have just over 12 months to get yourself a V12-powered 7 Series, if you’re interested in one. Just as is the case with the M550i, the decision to pull the plug on the best car you can get on the G12 platform has everything to do with regulations imposed by the EU. As a matter of fact, a lot of petrol-powered cars are experiencing some sort of regulation issues that the engineers are currently working on.
Earlier this year the Germans announced that certain gasoline engines will get an Otto particulate filter to cut down on harmful emissions, a measure that was new for the brand. Usually diesels resort to such filters commonly known as DPF in the automotive realm. For some engines though, applying this solution wouldn’t be enough and it would cause performance issues which prompted BMW to drop them altogether.
It is a sad piece of news for those wanting to enjoy a perfectly smooth and balanced BMW V12 but at least you now have a heads-up and can plan accordingly, if you were waiting for the right time to snatch up an M760Li xDrive model. Chances are, in a future dominated by electric vehicles, this may become a collector’s item.
I can’t believe they’re still whistling this hoax environmental disaster tune. But hey… they’re making so much money from environmental taxes, why would they back down… If they were serious about cutting down on emissions, they’d lobby to have speed bumps removed. BOOM!
You are clueless about everything. BOOM!
He does have a point about speed bumps, though.
Most of our speed bumps are for traffic control in residential areas and parking garages. Potholes do the rest.
Forbes cites 9 million pollution deaths in 2015.
Giom is moron boom!
The car is way out of my price range and I’m sure it’s a really low volume car, but that’s still disappointing news. I love the idea of a full size luxury car with a 600HP V12, and I’m sad to see it go.
Maybe they could put the new M5’s engine in a facelift’ed M760i as that engine has 600HP, as well as meeting the new required environmental regulations.
Very soon the ecofascists will ban breathing, because it produces CO2!
The M5 engine does not fit the classy, luxurious and comfortable 7 series. This is an engine made for a sports car. Additionally Alpina already puts a 608 PS engine in the 7 series with great success, since it is a torquey, relatively low-revving engine.
The days of Pistonheads are numbered! :)
I don’t understand since Rolls-Royces gets the same engine. There can’t be a RR without a V12. If it can be less polluting for RR, why can’t it work for BMW? Would it be too coslty for a BMW customer but not a RR customer? Will the M760Li be replaced by another model (hybrid or V8) ? What about the V12 Mercedes-Benz? And the Alpina B7?
B7 is a V8 anyway. Alpina haven’t done a V12 since the B12.
I do know the B7 is V8 and that it pollutes much less than the V12. However, it might also be impacted by the new regulations or BMW might not like the fact that an independant company, Alpina, makes the fastest 7 series (tuners excepted).
M760i may just not be replaced by anything this generation. Not enough time to develep a replacement power train for the LCI.
Would be interesting if they may develop a M760e V8 or I6 hybrid power train later, share it with the X7
6.6 liters is a lot, there is plenty of displacement to cut down to keep the V12 going.
this is sad news does that mean the m760 will appriciate in price?
I doubt it.
760 = V12
any engine lower its not a 760.
While I want to agree with you, not that long ago, someone could have said 750 = V12. But that is no longer the case now, no?
I think more than anything we are experiencing a time where cars as we know it are changing. For better, for worse, does not matter. Change is just that.
Bmw definetly needs a new V12 engine. Put the waterinjection in the V12 and it will fulfill all emission requirements.
Pseudo-religious ideological bureaucrats killing the industry. We see the rise of irrational dogmatism at the beginning of every solar minimum in history; no real idea why.
That’s a golden opportunity for the M7.
They can easily put the M5’s engine and gearbox in it. No need to develop an all new powertain. Just like the Mercedes AMG S63 with the same his engine as the E63S or the Audi S8 which shares his V8 with the RS7.
The V12 is fine for a Rolls-Royce but that’s too much for a BMW in terms of costs and depreciation especially with huge a 6.6 liter displacement. Mercedes will also kill their V12 AMG and replacing it by a 800 hp hybrid version of their V8.
You are on to something, but I doubt BMW gets it.
I want to see what they do with RR, which will possibly go to pure electric: the expense (and heft) of the car goes to developing batteries capable of 2500km range.
Can an M7 coexist with a B7?
The electrification is logic next step for Rolls-Royce as they’re the perfect for full electrification for some reasons : they’re silent, heavy and expensive. And after the concepts Maybach Vision 6 I’m pretty sure that Mercedes is planning full electric Maybach models as true Rolls-Royce competitors. I think that in luxury cars the V12 will be killed in less than 10 years by both the V8 which is lighter and more efficient and the full electric. The V12 will be immortal only for Ferrari and Lamborghini supercars.
BMW should stop blocking the idea of an M7. Now any luxury competitor has their own high-end performance version with the Audi S8 or Mercedes AMG S-class. Even the more luxurious Bentley Flying Spur and Continental has their Speed versions. An M7 car easily coexist with a B7 since they’re not part from the same brands. But maybe you’re an american and don’t get the difference.
Alpina is an independant manufacturer which makes more exclusive and refined BMW models. In Europe they’re had their own network of dealerships to sell their cars. In USA some customers asked BMW to make an M7 but because they don’t want to make it, so they’ve just took the Alpina B7 and sell it across their US network. That’s why in BMW’s american website you can find an Alpina B7 but not in the german website. So for Europeans if the M760Li has to be killed, the top-model 7 series will be a mainstream 750i with only 450 hp. And for that reason an M7 will completely make sense.
Does this mean the end of V12 for BMW? Does this mean…..am not understanding?
This is what I am concerned about myself.
If Mercedes and Bentley are not getting rid of their V12s, and BMW is going to no longer produce V12s, then it will truly be a sad day in automotive history and a huge fail I think, for BMW.
These requirements will come soon for Merc and RR, I’m sure.
Given extinction of V10 & V8 M3, to be expected, the future is downsized. They’ll still sell you a V12 Rolls. For now. Isn’t the Bentley an antiquated VAG W12? Or am I behind the times? Weren’t Bentley BMW V12 once upon a time?
The Bentayga and the new Continental uses an all new generation W12 with twin-scroll turbo and direct injection.
Why do they still use that strange configuration?
Most of their history BMW did not make a V12. They can always put two I6 together again, like they did in ’89.
Bentley will continue to make W12 models because they’ve had an all new W12 since the Bentayga.
The Mercedes V12 is nearly 20 years old and live his last generation on the current S-Class and will be replaced as the top-model by a 800 hp hybrid version of the AMG V8 known as the S73.
I’m not surprised. It was the matter of time. 550 bhp v8 for 7er will be enough. It will be lighter than v12 and more agile.
Hell yes ! Let’s face it : as much as i love v12s, having 12 cylinders to move a car is a total waste of petrol. And since the turbo area, a more compact lighter v8 can deliver endless power and torque.
BMW – next crisis incoming!
This is ridiculous!
A very sad thing to know if what they’re doing is true…
Hope they will reverse the decision….
Then what about lambo engines? They must be more pollution makers than BMW V12