2018 BMW 7 Series facelift to bring more hybridisation and sharper looks

The BMW 7 Series luxury saloon will gain more hybrid variants along with a sharper new look later this year as part of its mid-life facelift

The Audi A8 and Mercedes-Benz S-Class rival is being adapted to cater to new global legislation...

...that is expected to see sales of electrified models increase at an accelerated rate

Currently, the 7 Series is offered with just one hybrid drivetrain, as the 740e...

...but ever-tightening global legislation in some of BMW's most important markets have encouraged integration of the brand's electric technology into more powertrains

China is BMW’s largest market and the 7 Series is particularly well suited to the high demand for luxury vehicles there

But new legislation will require 8% of each car brand’s Chinese sales to be for ‘new energy vehicles’, which includes hybrids and electric vehicles, from 2019

Sources therefore predict the addition of another hybrid variant, as well as improvements in the existing 740e model, to boost 7 Series demand in what is the world’s biggest car market

A less significant change is expected with the car’s autonomous technology...

....BMW’s next major improvements in driverless systems won’t come until the launch of the iNext in 2021...

...so the 7 Series' adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assist, autonomous emergency braking and collision avoidance systems are expected to be enhanced

The 7 Series is priced from £62,720 in Britain, but a small increase in cost is likely when the facelift arrives

BMW recently increased the price of every model in its range as per routine updates

It also upped the CO2 figures for each car following retesting to the more stringent Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP)

No launch date has been set, but the production lifecycle of the current 7 Series, which arrived in 2015...

...suggests the facelift could be revealed later this year and make it into showrooms in the first quarter of 2019