With or without local emissions? BMW's 7 Series to give buyers choice

BMW is putting one foot ahead and keeping the other planted firmly behind it, offering the seventh generation of the 7 Series simultaneously as an electric and as a petrol or diesel, reported dpa.

Essentially, all buyers of this luxury saloon will be confronted with a choice: modern battery power with no local emissions, or a combustion engine with, well, lots.

Either way, it's set to remain an unaffordable luxury to most car owners, and 7 Series prices start at €114,300 in BMW's home market of Germany, the company has confirmed.

BMW says the flagship rival of Audi's A8, Tesla's Model S, Mercedes' EQS and Nio's ET7 will also only be available in the long version stretched to 5.39 metres, and will gain several new features in the latest edition.

A number of new digital upgrades include a curved screen behind the steering wheel, a fold-down 31-inch screen for rear passengers and touchpads in the doors.

Drivers will also have BMW's Level 2+ hands-free driving system, currently limited to certain motorways. It also won't be able to overtake slower cars, and will keep your 7 Series in one lane.

On paper, the most impressive variant is the all-electric i7. No local emissions still comes at a premium, however, and the i7 costs at least €135,900. It's initially available as an xDrive 60 with two motors, all-wheel drive and a system output of 544 hp.

It accelerates from a standstill to 100 km/h in 4.7 seconds with up to 745 Nm and reaches a maximum of 240 km/h. The battery is supposed to provide a standard range.

The battery is said to manage a standard range of 625 kilometres. In the best-case scenario, the i7 can charge enough energy for 110 kilometres in 10 minutes.

The basic version comes with a six-cylinder diesel (740d) and 299 hp. With this engine, the 7 Series accelerates from standstill to 100 km/h in 5.8 seconds and consumes an average of 6.1 litres (CO2 emissions: 160 g/km).

In addition, there are two petrol engines with plug-in hybrid module in the 750e from €123,500 (360 kW/489 hp) or in the M760e from €144,000 (420 kW/571 hp). Here BMW quotes a purely electric range of just under 100 kilometres.

The sprint times are 4.8 and 4.3 seconds and the standard consumption is 1.0 litre (CO2 emissions: from 22 g/km). With all-wheel drive and an eight-speed automatic, all petrols and diesels can reach a maximum speed of 250 km/h.