Looking almost unchanged from the example spied at the Nürburgring back in August, the updated 7-series, known internally as the G11, still sported significant amounts of masking on the front and rear facias, with the images posted by bimmertoday.de also seeing it with a fair amount of pre-production panels, suggesting a more extensive update than initially thought.

Partially revealing its headlights seemingly derived from the new 3-series, the test mule featured the same wide kidney grilles as the X7, while the positioning of the split dual exhaust outlets and taped-up badge on the C-pillar, hints that the model pictured could be the M760Li xDrive despite reports back in February that it will be pulled from production in Europe next year due to theWorldwide Harmonised Light Vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP) emissions standards.

With an interior likely to mirror that of the X7, the 7-series’ range of engines is anticipated to be carried over from the current model, though speculation is that the 390kW/750Nm 4.4-litre bi-turbo V8 used in the M850i could find its way underneath the bonnet of perhaps the 750i, while the plug-in hybrid 740e iPerformance will make way for the 745e iPerformance that could produce as much as 298kW.

A further topic of conjecture is whether the G11 will finally see the introduction of an M7 to rival the Mercedes-AMG S65 and Audi S8, especially after the filing of a trademark application  for the moniker in October last year.

More details are expected to emerge in the coming months leading up to the G11’s world debut next year.