Displacement is irreplaceable, except for electric motors.
Large, inefficient engines are becoming extinct, just like the dinosaurs. Many companies are switching to smaller six- and four-cylinder engines that can be powered by batteries. BMW seems to be not alone. A new rumor suggests that the next 7 Series sedan may drop its V8 or V12 engines and instead use electrification.
According to BMWBlog a new 2020 7 Series will be the last model with V8 or V12 options. The reworked, 4.4-liter V8 of the 750i produces 523 horsepower (60 kW more than before) and the 6.6-liter V12-powered BMW 760i produces 600 HP (447 kW) The G70 7 Series will not be as powerful.
The new 7 Series could have the same 3.0-liter inline-6 (B58), as cars like the 2 Series or 3 Series. Only the 7 Series will be fully electrified. BMW will offer a plug-in 7 Series as well as a mild-hybrid variant with the same six-cylinder engine. These will not be the same low-powered options as the current plug in.
The entry-level hybrid-powered 7 Series will produce 560 horsepower (420 kW) combined and 590 pound feet (800 Newton-meters), of torque. This would make it more powerful than the V8 and more powerful than the plug-in that only produces 389 horsepower (290 kW) together.
We won’t see the new BMW 7 Series until sometime, however. The 2020 model was unveiled in January and will not be available in the United States until April. It will be available in five specifications when it goes on sale: one rear-wheel drive version and four models that are all-wheel-drive. Pricing information is still unknown.