BMW’s German configurator for the facelifted 2027 7 Series went live this week, and for the first time, you can see exactly what €117,900 buys you in Munich’s flagship sedan. The answer: Alpine White paint, 20-inch wheels, artificial leather, and not much else.
The 740 xDrive is the entry point, powered by an inline-six gasoline engine. It’s the cheapest way into the G70 LCI, and it arrives in a trim BMW calls Design Pure Excellence — which is corporate code for “no M Sport bodywork.” The bumpers are softer, the glossy black accents are dialed back, and the whole thing looks like a 7 Series that forgot to get dressed for the party.
Only four variants populate the configurator right now: the 740 xDrive, the electric i7 50 xDrive, the i7 60 xDrive, and the range-topping i7 M70 xDrive. Everything else — the 740d diesel, the 750e plug-in hybrid, the M760e — won’t arrive until November. BMW ALPINA versions are even further out, slated for sometime in 2027.
The options list is where BMW makes its real money. Alpine White is the only no-cost color. Every other shade carries a surcharge, and the new Dual-Finish Tanzanite Blue — a glossy-matte combination applied to a single color — commands a staggering €14,000 for paint alone. That’s more than many people spend on an entire used car.
Inside the base car, buyers get a choice of three Veganza synthetic leather colors: Mokka, Black, or Cognac. The sole no-cost trim is Fineline Lime open-pored matte wood. Want carbon fiber? That’s €1,400. Individual Ash Flowing Grey wood? Same price.
The nickel-and-diming is systematic and thorough, which is exactly how BMW has operated at this end of the market for decades. A few minutes clicking through the configurator reveals just how quickly the price escalates. A fully loaded i7 M70 xDrive blows past €200,000 without breaking a sweat.
That puts it squarely in Mercedes-Maybach and Porsche Panamera Turbo territory — a neighborhood BMW clearly believes it belongs in. The stripped-down 740 xDrive that the configurator now lets you build will almost certainly never exist in the real world. No one walks into a BMW dealer spending six figures and leaves with the base color, base wheels, and fake leather.
The configuration is a thought experiment, a price anchor designed to make the €150,000 or €170,000 build feel reasonable by comparison. Outside Europe, BMW will offer two rear-wheel-drive variants — the 735 and 740 — with detuned versions of the same inline-six. Those models acknowledge a reality that all-wheel drive isn’t universally desired, even at this price point.
What the configurator reveals more than anything is the sheer width of the 7 Series portfolio BMW is assembling. Gas, diesel, plug-in hybrid, full electric, ALPINA — every powertrain philosophy gets a seat at the table. It’s a hedge-everything strategy from a company that just installed a new CEO in Milan Nedeljković and clearly isn’t ready to pick a single lane.
The 7 Series has always been BMW’s technology showcase and its profit engine. This generation is no different. The car itself may have gotten a facelift, but the business model underneath it — sell the base, upsell everything — hasn’t changed in 40 years.
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