{"id":85309,"date":"2026-04-19T04:23:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T08:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=85309"},"modified":"2026-04-19T04:23:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T08:23:32","slug":"bmw-7-series-e65-design-sketches-show-what-could-have-been","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=85309","title":{"rendered":"BMW 7 Series E65 Design Sketches Show What Could Have Been"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"post-summary-wrap\">\n<h3 class=\"post-summary-title\">Article Summary<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"post-summary-list\">\n<li>Adrian van Hooydonk shows a few design proposals that were left on the cutting room floor.<\/li>\n<li>The E65 could&#8217;ve looked significantly different had one of these sketches been approved for the production model.<\/li>\n<li>The 7 Series E65&#8217;s pre-LCI design was approved for production in 1998.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n<p>BMW is just days away from unveiling the mid-cycle facelift for the 7 Series G70 at the Beijing Auto Show. Ahead of the flagship\u2019s LCI debut, the brand\u2019s head of design is revisiting one of the luxury sedan\u2019s predecessors. Widely regarded as the most controversial-looking 7er, the E65 could have taken a very different path. These rare sketches left on the proverbial cutting room floor offer a glimpse of what might have been.<\/p>\n<p>BMW Group Head of Design Adrian van Hooydonk was directly involved in the car\u2019s development while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmwblog.com\/2025\/12\/28\/bangle-butt-bmw-explained\/\">Chris Bangle<\/a> led the design team. One of his proposals was ultimately approved for production in the spring of 1998. The first sketch shown here dates back to the previous year and features an almost vertical grille flanked by alternative headlight designs, with the turn signals relocated to the front fenders.<\/p>\n<p>Other notable elements include horizontal slats beneath the headlights and near the lower edge of the bumper. Round fog lights are positioned higher and closer together, while the sloping roofline gives off a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmwblog.com\/2026\/01\/11\/alpina-b8-gran-coupe-best-looking-bmw\/\">Gran Coupe<\/a> vibe. However, sketches often exaggerate proportions that rarely carry over to production.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DXMmExRDPIK\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\"\/>\n<p>The absence of door handles and B-pillars cleans up the profile, while pronounced fenders enhance the car\u2019s sporty stance. Although the low resolution makes it difficult to confirm, there appears to be a chrome \u201cV12\u201d badge on the front fender. That would suggest this proposal was intended for the range-topping 760i, powered by the naturally aspirated 6.0-liter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmwblog.com\/2025\/12\/28\/bmw-n73-v12-engine-features-reliability-tuning\/\">N73 engine<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A second sketch, dated 1998, presents a slightly different interpretation of the infamous \u201cBangle Butt.\u201d It appears sleeker, with a less pronounced trunk lid. The taillights are mounted lower on the trunk, rather than near the top as on the production model. There\u2019s also a \u201c750i\u201d badge nicely integrated into the horizontal chrome strip.<\/p>\n<p>The final sketch is our favorite. Created in 1999, it likely previews an early vision of the E65 LCI. The facelifted model didn\u2019t arrive until 2005, roughly four years after the original debuted. This design looks like a spiritual successor to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmwblog.com\/2025\/11\/26\/bmw-8-series-e31-wind-tunnel-images\/\">E31 8 Series Coupe<\/a> that never materialized. As a refresher, the original 8er ended production the same year this sketch was drawn, so this would\u2019ve been a natural follow-up.<\/p>\n<p>Fast-forward to 2009, Adrian van Hooydonk succeeded Chris Bangle as BMW\u2019s head of design, and as they say, the rest is history. Next week, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmwblog.com\/2026\/03\/25\/bmw-7-series-facelift-vertical-headlights\/\">7 Series LCI<\/a> will signal the next step forward for Munich\u2019s flagship sedan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Article Summary Adrian van Hooydonk shows a few design proposals that were left on the cutting room floor. The E65 could&#8217;ve looked significantly different had one of these sketches been approved for the production model. The 7 Series E65&#8217;s pre-LCI design was approved for production in 1998. BMW is just days away from unveiling the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":85310,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/85310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}