7-series early refresh re-confirmed

Ugly duckling to be nipped and tucked? Is the refresh back on?

Last fall the Spies broke a story saying an early re-fresh was in store for the 7-series.

In mid-march of this year Autoweek ran this story:

BMW working fast to revamp flagship's design

Highlights from the article:

We have this on the highest authority: Your excuses for wanting to dangle BMW design chief Chris Bangle from a tree for what he did to your beloved 7 Series will be all but eliminated by year’s end.

BMW sources in Germany tell us that Bangle and his team have been hard at work restyling the car since moments after the reskinned 7 premiered to “glaringly negative” reaction at the 2001 Frankfurt show.

Look for an all-new tail and face.

The redone 7 Series will appear perhaps “as early as Tokyo [Oct. 25 to Nov. 6] or maybe Detroit, but no later,” our source reports, following the fastest model redo in the history of the proud Munich firm.

Then, the PR folks at BMW said no early refresh was coming...Well, the soap opera continues...now we're hearing from dealer sources that it is back on! The recent severe dip in sales has made them do a 360...Can you say "Detroit in January"? We're keeping a close eye on these developments and will keep this as an open file...