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2019 BMW X7 vs luxury SUV rivals: Comparing specs and photos

Today we get our first-ever look at the first-ever 2019 BMW X7 crossover. We've actually already had our first-ever drive in an X7 Prototype. And so, we thought it appropriate to follow that up today with the first-ever X7 comparison of specs between BMW's first-ever three-row crossover with legitimate room for seven and its many high-dollar competitors. On paper, the 2019 X7 definitely seems to most closely align with the Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class. Their similar dimensions, interior space, engine choices and price would certainly imply where BMW placed the target when developing X7. We used those same elements to determine three-row vehicles likely to be cross-shopped or that should be cross-shopped. These include the Audi Q7, Land Rover Discovery, Volvo XC90 and Lincoln Navigator. Yes, the latter is a truck-based SUV as opposed to a crossover, but tell that to all the people lining out the door at the local Lincoln emporium. They do not care, and neither shall we. We also included the 2019 BMW X5, which was completely redesigned for this year and therefore not the first-ever. That makes it less appealing? Either way, lining the new X5 up with the SUV that leapfrogs it atop BMW's SUV hierarchy should provide a good idea of just how much more you get by going up a model number. Engines and model lineup Again, the X7 aligns closest with the GLS, offering a base six-cylinder in its xDrive40i model and an upgrade turbo V8 in the xDrive50i. The Mercedes engines have greater output, but the GLS still accelerates slower than the BMW. As the 2019 X5 offers the exact same engines, we would also expect the X7's fuel economy to be superior to the GLS once its estimates are announced. It should be noted, though, that the GLS offers a high-powered AMG model whereas we anticipate the X7 to offer a plug-in hybrid model comparable to the X5 upcoming xDrive45e model. The other luxury SUVs diverge in their engine choices and model lineup. The Audi Q7 offers a base turbocharged four-cylinder, as does the Volvo XC90 in its T5 model, which we left out of the above chart entirely for space reasons. That the Q7 3.0 TFSI supercharged V6 gets the same fuel economy estimates as the four-cylinder is proof positive that engine is purely around for its lower base price.

Audi to blitz 1.5M sales goal two years ahead of schedule

Audi doesn't seem to be having any trouble of hitting its relatively audacious sales goal of two million units by 2020 - it's already on pace to eclipse 1.5 million sales two years ahead of schedule. According to Reuters, the Volkswagen-owned brand rode a wave of sales in China and the US to pace the early goal, with 780,500 deliveries at the halfway point of 2013. Particularly hot models include the Q5 crossover seen above and A4 sedan. Unless things go poorly in the second half of the year, 1.5 million sales shouldn't be an issue.
That leaves it trailing BMW by just 24,000 units for the global luxury sales crown. If sales trends keep up, Audi will succeed in hitting its goal of two million units and besting its cross-country rival in Munich. Audi CEO Rupert Stadler smells blood, telling German newspaper Handelsblatt, ''We have overtaken Mercedes-Benz and we are now closer to BMW than ever before."

More next-gen Audi TT details revealed

We still only have rumors about the third-generation Audi TT said to be scheduled for launch in late 2014, but based on a report in Car and Driver, we know a tiny bit more about it. The base engine will be the 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder with direct injection, but horsepower is said to be 220 horsepower - that would make for a nine-hp jump over the current output. The TTS would get an even larger power boost, going from 265 currently to 300 hp. The TT RS would stick with it's 2.5-liter five cylinder, with output increased from 360 to 380 hp. If Audi includes a nice dose of the go-light engineering involved in the TT Ultra Quattro, these horsepower numbers might be even more impressive.
As with the TT concept and first-generation production car, though, it sounds like the brand is concentrating on aesthetics. It's been widely reported that Audi wants to reclaim the juju conjured by the original TT, and while we still don't know what that means outside, CD reports that the interior gets simplified, "futuristic-feeling" styling thanks to instruments served up on a TFT screen. Remember, the first Audi TT had a cockpit that Car magazine dubbed simply, "The Cabin."
About a year after the coupe comes, the Audi TT Roadster will show up and should be joined by the next A5. The news for the next version of the subtly beautiful coupe is the arrival of a plug-in hybrid with torque vectoring via an electric motor for the rear axle. Beyond that is wilder speculation of an A9, which might be called Q9, and which was the four-door-coupe flavor of the month two years ago when it was possibly going to share a platform with the Lamborghini Estoque. According to the CD story, the thinking now is around "a combination of fastback and crossover proportions," a two-fer we've yet to see any carmaker pull off without making us go, "Oh. I see."