BMW’s Safety Collection Now Gives an Armored i7 Sedan for the James Bond in Us All

There’s a scene within the 1997 James Bond movie Tomorrow By no means Dies the place Bond fends off a pack of goons whereas secured inside a BMW 750iL sedan. The assailants attempt their greatest to penetrate the Bimmer with sledgehammers and in the end take to taking pictures at it with machine weapons, all of which the sedan resists all through a automotive chase, till Bond lastly finds a option to defeat his pursuers. 

Whereas the automotive is totally loaded with all kinds of fantastical Q Department gizmos, it seems the fact of a bulletproofed BMW isn’t too removed from the movie fiction. In actual fact, BMW has been providing them for over 40 years. They’re known as BMW Safety autos and the newest comes within the type of the present BMW 7-Collection, together with the i7, making it the primary armored sedan with a fully-electric powertrain. 

BMW i7 Safety sounds prefer it’s an AppleCare-like guarantee on your luxurious four-door, but it surely’s the official identify for armored variations of the automaker’s new EV flagship sedan. The premise is the traditional non-bulletproof i7 M70 xDrive mannequin that provides dual-motor all-wheel drive and as much as 544 horsepower. From there, the automotive is then assembled with the BMW Safety Core, a self-supporting protecting cell that’s strengthened with different types of armoring all through the remainder of the automotive. This contains ballistic-resistant security glass, armored doorways, in addition to a protected underbody and roof to guard occupants from drones and grenades, issues oft-unaddressed in a standard BMW spec sheet. 

The additional safety does add just a few additional kilos to the full-sized sedan, however BMW states one of many advantages to dealing with this service in-house is that it might higher implement weight-saving in the course of the meeting course of and likewise optimally distribute it higher than an aftermarket armoring service. This enables it to stay nimble for each day driving but in addition strategic evacuations from a hostile space. 

It doesn’t appear as if the i7’s battery pack warrants any additional particular armoring, although the gas-powered 4.4-liter V8 760i xDrive model does have a gas tank that may self-seal bullet holes. All informed, the 7-Collection safety vehicles are VR9 licensed, a normal of safety set by VPAM, an internationally acknowledged check standards developed in Germany. This implies it’s immune to higher-caliber rounds and even some armor-piercing bullets.

Inside, the hardened BMW continues to be a BMW, with a Bowers & Wilkins encompass sound system, premium supplies and all the luxurious equipment one would count on. Naturally, there are just a few unique choices like a fireplace suppression system and a fresh-air provide system in case you get gassed. 

We’re not going to lie, it’s fairly wild to see these things supplied straight from the supply, and the truth that BMW has been doing it for thus lengthy is, in a means, a testomony to its “Final Driving Machine” mission assertion — seeing as how diplomats and different at-risk people refuse to compromise on BMW’s model of luxurious efficiency, even when their lives are on the road. For those who haven’t put an order in, now’s the time to take action as deliveries begin on the finish of the yr.