The Vision Future Luxury concept is BMW's star of the Beijing Motor Show and a clear indication of where the Munich firm wants to take its next generation 7 Series. And that 'where' is straight into the heart of the hugely successful new Mercedes-Benz S-Class. BMW is sick of the 7 playing second fiddle to the S and the VFL concept is a marker in the ground for a much more overtly luxurious 7 to come.
The standout feature of the car is its interior. The fascia is made up of a single panel constructed of layers of carbon fibre, aluminium, wood and leather. Those layers are then stripped away to various depths to show off one material or another, or to leave spaces for the instruments or touchscreens. BMW claims that not only does this make the cabin rather strikingly beautiful (which it most certainly does) but that it also makes for very lightweight construction.
That lightweight theme carries though to the body of the car. There's a lot of carbon fibre in the VFL's make-up and that, combined with the integration of the seat frames into the load bearing structure, means that BMW has been able to dramatically slim down the B-pillar, allowing the Rolls-Royce-style coach doors to really open up the cabin both for ease of access and, let's face it, the view.
Rear seat passengers are cosseted in individual airline style seats with a full touchscreen infotainment system on each side, but it's up front where the real instrumentation innovation is taking place. First off, the passenger gets their own individual touch screen that allows them to take on tasks that would distract the driver (navigation, audio, booking theatre tickets etc.) and both driver and passenger can send information from their touchscreen to the other by swiping.
BMW has also upgraded its head up display into a full augmented reality system, which can highlight road signs and, when it's not too distracting, flash up information for the driver directly in their line of sight.
There's more innovation in the lighting. We've seen BMW's laser light headlights already and Munich claims that they can be up to 10 times more intense than an equivalent LED headlamp, as well as being more efficient in terms of power use. The VFL uses what BMW says is a new interpretation of the traditional twin round lamps. At the rear there are new OLED (organic LED) lights that are incredibly thin and flexible, which give some major packaging advantages.
"Innovative technology and modern luxury have always been an important part of BMW's brand DNA," says Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President BMW Group Design. "We use visionary concept vehicles like the BMW Vision Future Luxury to show where we may be going with these themes in the future, and to give us new inspiration and motivation. The BMW Vision Future Luxury - with its innovative technologies and with meticulous precision and quality in every detail - takes our thinking on modern luxury a logical stage further."
Anything else?
Now begins the theorising over whether this is a peek at the new 7 Series or if BMW is plotting a super-luxury 9 Series. Given the existence of Rolls-Royce in the BMW family it seems more likely to be 7 than 9 but you never know...