If anything could have drawn a line under the German luxo-muscle wars of the nineties, it would have been a 6.7-litre BMW 7-series. Interestingly, such a creation came into being and, bafflingly, was never given the green light. Why bafflingly? Because BMW developed a new V16 engine for the car. And you don't do that sort of thing if you're not serious, surely?
This spine-tingling new engine was based on the M70 5-litre V12, with a brace of extra cylinders on each bank. Cast in high-silicone aluminium and boasting a clever new engine management system that effectively treated it as two conjoined straight-eights, the 767i (which, let's not forget, is a rather large and heavy car) could hit 62mph in six seconds dead and go on to 175mph.
Why was it never put into production? Nobody can say. It's a shame, as it would have sold very well in the Middle East and, of course, a production V16 engine would have furnished BMW with unlimited kudos. With the relentless trend toward downsizing and efficiency, it's unlikely that we'll see its like again.
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