Eco-friendly politicians and celebrities soon won’t have to trade their values for protection as BMW has announced plans to offer an armored i7. Set to be introduced next year, the model promises to have a “new and innovative protection concept” as well as an “unrivalled combination of protection, poise and assurance, spaciousness and sustainability.” That’s pretty vague, but BMW Chairman Oliver Zipse said the company will “introduce an all-electric high-security vehicle for the first time – with no compromises when it comes to the standard of protection for our customers.” He added the model will demonstrate how “sustainability and security can go hand in hand.”
While a number of questions remain, the i7
xDrive60 features a dual motor all-wheel drive system that produces a combined
output of 536 hp and 744 Nm of torque. This
enables the model to accelerate from 0-96 km/h in around 4.5 seconds
and travel an estimated 483 km on a single charge in the EPA test
cycle.
It will be interesting to see how much the
armoring process impacts the car’s range, but BMW has decades of experience
with security vehicles. Their first was introduced in 1978 and based on the
7-Series. Following generations of the flagship sedan offered armoring, while
an X5 Security was added to the lineup in 2004.
It remains unclear what level of
protection the i7 will have, but BMW has previously offered VR6 and VR7
vehicles. In the case of the X5 Protection VR6, the model is outfitted with
molded armor-plating, an armored boot divider, and bullet-resistant glass that
measures approximately 33 mm thick. The model also sports
underbody armor and a self-sealing fuel tank among other things.
