BMW M7 name trademarked

A trademark registration has been made for the BMW M7 name, suggesting a new high-performance sedan is in the works.

Bimmerfest has unearthed an trademark filing by BMW for the M7 name with the US Patent and Trademark Office. The company lodged its application on April 27 this year, and is currently awaiting examination and final approval.

BMW already has one M-branded 7 Series model in its current range, the M760Li, which is powered by a twin-turbo 6.6-litre V12 with 448kW of power and 800Nm of torque on tap.

Fitted with an eight-speed automatic and all-wheel drive, the M760Li xDrive is capable of rushing from 0-100km/h in 3.7 seconds.

It's not known if any potential M7 would use a more powerful version of that engine, or something else entirely.

One non-V12 option is the M5's lighter and more athletic 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8, which cranks out 441kW of power and 750Nm of torque. A more powerful variant of this engine is likely to appear in the rumoured M5 Competition.

This engine could possibly be shared with the M8, which has already been spied undergoing testing.

Again, as with all news related to trademarks, this application doesn't necessarily mean there will be an M7, but it does seem a little more plausible now that BMW's gone to effort of submitting paperwork to a government.

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