A BMW X7 UTE? #YEAHRIGHT!
B
MW is no stranger to cobbling together
rather practical test mules and factory toys
from the company’s extensive catalogue of
cars, but the its latest creation takes the DIY ute
game to a whole new level. tailgate closed the X7 Pick-Up offers 140cm of
length to load into, while with the tailgate down
this increases to 200cm. Sadly due to the one-off
nature of the build full specs into the tray aren’t
available so we don’t know the full details.
Based on the new BMW X7 luxury SUV, the X7
Pick-Up was designed by BMW Group vocational
trainees in cooperation with the Concept Vehicle
Construction and Model Technology divisions at
the BMW Munich plant. Now, obviously, we’re a motorcycle magazine and
the idea of a ute is cool, but it’s got to link back to
bikes in some way. While BMW doesn’t currently
offer any pure dirt models to throw in the back
of the X7 Pick-Up, it does have a healthy range
of Adventure machines. As such, and with the X7
making its debut at the recent BMW Motorrad
Days in Europe, BMW placed a 2019 BMW F850GS
into the tray to show off the capability of the ute
as a bike hauler.
The one-off design, which took 10 months from
concept to completion, isn’t the usual hastily
constructed factory mule and retains much of the
luxury nature of the base X7. Even the rear cabin
of has been chopped off to allow the load tray to
be moulded into its place, and comes across as a
luxury affair with a polished wood finish.
Space-wise the tray (which is part of the
unibody construction of the Pick-Up, unlike the
detachable trays we’re used to) actually isn’t too
bad considering the vehicle’s roots. With the
While the idea of a luxury ute sounds cool, it
is unlikely that BMW will take the concept any
further in its current form. Plus, with prices for
the X7 starting at $146,000 the idea of grabbing
something that expensive to chuck your bike on
every now and then is a little unsettling…
KIWI RIDER 97