BMW confirmed the Imaginative and prescient Future Luxurious in 2014, and the primary response most individuals had was easy: why doesn’t BMW construct this? The proportions have been proper, the surfaces have been clear, and it appeared like a flagship with out making an attempt to shout. However the actual cause the automotive is price revisiting now isn’t simply the styling. It’s what number of particulars on this idea changed into themes BMW saved coming again to—particularly on the 7 Collection and different massive, high-end fashions.
The Grille That Obtained There Early
In 2014, BMW’s kidney grilles have been nonetheless principally restrained. Imaginative and prescient Future Luxurious wasn’t. It pushed the kidneys bigger and extra dominant, principally treating the grille because the centerpiece of the entrance finish. That issues as a result of just a few years later, BMW’s flagships moved in precisely that route. The 7 Collection and a number of other different fashions leaned into a much bigger, extra upright “face,” and whether or not you find it irresistible or hate it, this idea exhibits BMW had already explored the look lengthy earlier than it turned a manufacturing actuality.
Headlights That Are Now Seen Throughout A number of BMW Fashions
The headlights have been one other massive step for the time. BMW had its signature two-light id, however Imaginative and prescient Future Luxurious made it skinny, sharp, and extremely graphic—very totally different from what you’d see on showroom BMWs in 2014–2015. At the moment, that form of break up, multi-element “double” headlight theme feels utterly regular throughout the model. In quite a lot of methods, it’s nearer to what you see now on automobiles just like the M3 and M4 than something BMW was promoting again then. The idea didn’t invent fashionable BMW lighting, but it surely’s an early instance of BMW utilizing the headlights as a design signature as an alternative of simply {hardware}.
Slim taillights That Look Like At the moment’s Pattern
Round again, the taillights are virtually shockingly slim. That’s the purpose: BMW was already chasing a thinner, extra technical rear-light look, and it’s a characteristic you possibly can spot on a number of present BMWs. The idea additionally leaned into OLED pondering for rear lighting—a kind of “future tech” strikes that wasn’t only for present, as a result of it allows shapes and thinness you possibly can’t actually pull off with conventional lamp packaging.
The Inside Concepts That Really Confirmed Up Later
The cabin is the place this idea begins to really feel much less like fantasy and extra like a planning doc. You possibly can see the route BMW would later take with:
- A sportier, flatter-bottom steering wheel form
- Haptic-style controls on the wheel as an alternative of old-school button clusters
- A completely digital instrument structure
- Rear-seat screens and a tablet-like management system for passengers to handle media and capabilities
That final level is the large one. Rear-seat tech and “government lounge” priorities are actually baked into BMW’s flagship strategy—particularly the newer 7 Collection the place the rear cabin isn’t handled like an afterthought. Imaginative and prescient Future Luxurious was already constructing that logic into the idea: when you’re shopping for the highest sedan, the rear passengers ought to have actual management and actual consolation.
And sure, the rear seating structure looks like an early nod to the form of “two-seat, first-class” vibe BMW later leaned into with issues like captain’s chair layouts within the X7. Totally different automobile, identical concept: house and separation can really feel extra premium than merely squeezing in additional seats.
The Crystal Controls Earlier than BMW Offered Them
There’s additionally a element that’s simple to overlook till you bear in mind it turned an actual possibility: the crystal-look shifter and iDrive controller. BMW later turned that concept into manufacturing with its glass management packages on high-end fashions. Within the idea, it wasn’t making an attempt to be futuristic—it was making an attempt to make the contact factors really feel particular in a really literal, bodily method.
The Passenger Display screen: BMW Was Pondering About It Again Then
One of the crucial fascinating “tells” on this idea is the way it treats the entrance passenger. The cabin structure clearly assumes the passenger is a part of the interface expertise, not simply somebody sitting subsequent to the motive force. That’s particularly related now, as a result of a devoted entrance passenger show has been rumored for upcoming high-end BMWs as quickly as 2026.
Whether or not that actual characteristic arrives on schedule or not, the idea makes the broader level: BMW has been experimenting with the thought for a very long time. These items don’t seem in a single day.
The Coach Doorways That Nonetheless Haven’t Occurred
The coach (rear-hinged) doorways are the one crowd-pleaser BMW nonetheless hasn’t dropped at a flagship sedan. They’re dramatic, they make entry and exit really feel like an occasion, and so they immediately separate an idea from a standard manufacturing automotive. BMW has used rear-hinged door options earlier than—most famously on the i3—however the “massive luxurious sedan with coach doorways” concept stays caught in idea land. In all probability for sensible causes. Nonetheless, it’s the form of element that makes you want BMW would take a threat now and again on a limited-run halo automotive.
BMW Tends To Observe By way of On Their Concepts
Imaginative and prescient Future Luxurious is remembered as a good looking BMW idea, and it’s. However the extra trustworthy cause it holds up is less complicated: it was full of concepts BMW truly adopted by way of on.
Huge kidneys. Slim double headlamps. skinny taillights. A screen-led cabin. Rear-seat tech and luxury as a precedence. Even the crystal-look controls. Put it subsequent to right now’s flagship BMWs and it doesn’t really feel like a bizarre relic—it looks like an early chapter.
And that’s what an excellent idea automotive is meant to be. Not a spaceship. Only a clear take a look at what the model is already working towards.
