BMW X7 Transformed Into Pickup, X7 M And X8

Like what you see?

There was a time when outlandish renders of existing vehicle designs gave us a good laugh and we could move on with our lives. Then we started seeing some of these ridiculous concepts turning to reality and before long the world was awash with four-door coupe-styled SUVs, high-riding hatchbacks and Mercedes-Benz Pickup trucks.

Thankfully the X-Class won’t be coming to the US just yet, but its very existence is something to be wary of, and to tempt fate X-Tomi Design has just revealed his idea of what a BMW X7 pickup truck would look like.

There’s no doubting X-Tomi’s talents in altering existing designs to look like production ready models, and this is where the problems come in; If the right person at BMW sees this X7 render they might well be spurred into action to compete with Mercedes.

The crazy Bavarians have history here too, having once built a one-off BMW M3 pickup for a laugh. Let’s hope then that they move onto what X-Tomi envisions the X7 M will look like and forget about the pickup thing altogether.

The electric blue hunkered down X7 M looks far more pleasing to the eye and while there is no confirmation that such a model will be released, we wouldn’t be surprised if BMW introduces one to take on other overpowered behemoths like the Mercedes- Benz AMG GLS63. Remember when the idea of an X5 M joining the then pure M range was just a ridiculous notion?

The X8 is another niche model that is a logical addition to the burgeoning X range, BMW once again has not confirmed that one is on the way, but we wouldn’t bet on them holding out for too long. X-Tomi’s rendering of what an X8 xDrive40i would look like is probably quite accurate too.

As is the case with the X5 and X6, this massive high-riding coupe would share most of its componentry with the X7 and command a small premium over it for the coupe-like rear styling. With so many unlikely body styles and designs finding their way to market, it would be unwise to assume that BMW isn’t already well down the design path to building all three of these cars. Perhaps X-Tomi could render a next-gen M3 with a hypothetical V8 under the hood just to restore balance to the force.

BMW 8 Series To Spawn Gran Coupe, Shooting Brake And Pickup?

We suspect at least one of these will see the light of day.

Just days after the 8 Series concept broke cover, discussions immediately sprung up regarding future iterations of the long-awaited luxury coupe. Would there be a high-performance M8? That question was quickly answered by the Bavarian carmaker with a resounding: yes. We’ve subsequently taken a look at what a BMW 8 Series Convertible could look like thanks to X-Tomi Design and the same rendering artist has now unleashed a trio of other variants to fire the flames of further discourse.

We'll begin by immediately ruling out the possibility of a BMW 8 Series pickup. Never gonna happen. But something that all car renderers love to contemplate. While Mercedes will soon unveil its first-ever truck, we have serious doubts that BMW will follow suit and are confident that if they did, the 8 Series would not be the car to adopt the body shape. A BMW M3 pickup has been made, but that was just for fun and despite calls for BMW to put it into a limited run production, it will remain a one-off.

Next up is the 8 Series Shooting Brake. If made, this would go up against the likes of the Ferrari GTC4Lusso, Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo, and Mercedes-Benz CLS. This is a very niche market and we’d be stunned if BMW is considering this. Stranger things have happened though so don’t rule it out completely.

We’ll conclude with the most realistic of the possible variants: the 8 Series Gran Coupe. We know that BMW will kill off the 6 Series – or at least put it on hold – to make room for the 8er. That means we can say goodbye to the gorgeous 6 Series Gran Coupe, which will soon go out of production. With an extra set of rear doors, this vision of an 8 Series Gran Coupe looks fantastic and we would be very surprised if BMW didn’t release this sometime in 2019, around a year after the coupe is unveiled.

This Custom 1960 Bentley Wagon Will Make You The King Of The School Pickup Line

This Bentley can pick the kids of at school, and drive on the lawn at Pebble Beach.

Here at CarBuzz, we absolutely love wagons. Unlike SUVs, wagons have a low center of gravity so they handle just like a normal car. There are still some amazing wagons left on the market, but most modern consumers prefer the higher ride height of an SUV. The Bentley Bentayga is a pretty cool SUV, but we would much prefer to buy a Bentley wagon. Unfortunately, Bentley doesn't sell a wagon. There have been some cool renderings of what a Bentley wagon could look like, but we have our sights set on the real thing.

What we have here is a 1960 Bentley S2 with a custom body from a coachbuilder called Wendler. The car is currently being sold by a dealership called Hyman LTD., with a massive asking price of $575,000. This is more than twice as much as a brand-new, W12-powered Bentayga, but we think it is worth the asking price. This 1960 S2 has a unique story and is one of the most unique Bentleys in the world.

The Bentley S-Series was introduced in 1955 in standard and long wheelbase forms. Most were fitted with standard bodywork, but a few special customers had their cars built with custom body work. All told, only 57 long wheelbase models were built, and a mere six of those were fitted with custom bodywork. This car is chassis number LLBA9, and it was originally ordered by a New York dealer called J.S. Inskip.

The original owner remains a mystery, as the original factory order was put in the name of the buyer's agent with the New York Yacht Club listed as their home address. The buyer originally wanted a custom wagon from Mercedes, but the German automaker turned down the request. Since Mercedes wasn't interested in building a wagon, the owner turned to Wendler, who grafted a Mercedes W112 300 body onto a Bentley chassis.

Wendler used many of the parts from Mercedes such as the lights and exterior trim, but many pieces had to be fabricated to fit the Bentley body. The result is a car that is both a Bentley and a Mercedes. The original owner donated the car to a museum, and it was restored from 2012 to 2013. It now looks beautiful once again, and ready to carry five passengers and their luggage. This looks like the perfect car for an elite car show such as Pebble Beach, and we would love to have it in our collection.

Watch An E30 BMW M3 Pickup Truck Strip A Christmas Tree Naked

An E30 M3 pickup? Yes, it does exist. Unlike Santa Claus.

Way back in 1986, BMW engineers came up with a wild idea: turn the 3 Series into a high-performance coupe. The result was the original E30 M3, and the rest is history. But people at BMW wondered whether the first M3 could serve other purposes. For example, the BMW Motorsport department realized it could also be utilized for transporting equipment and parts around its testing center near Munich. Problem was, a lack of storage space. The solution was simple: a small pickup truck, though it never made production.

Not long afterwards, a 3 Series convertible was turned into the M3 pickup truck. “The convertible bodyshell was chosen as the basis for two reasons,” recalls Jakob Polschak, head of vehicle prototype building and workshops at BMW M Division and an employee at the company for more than 40 years.

“Firstly, we happened to have such a model at our disposal and in perfect condition. And secondly, the convertible’s built-in bracing made it the ideal choice for a pickup conversion.” And with that, now it’s time to check out an old E30 M3 pickup truck in action as it’s used to haul a Christmas tree home. The driver had fun. His wife and daughter weren’t pleased.

BMW Completely Rules Out Building A Pickup Truck

The fate of a German pickup now rests on VW and Audi.

Even though BMW has never sold a production pickup truck, the German luxury brand has built not one, but two prototype M3 pickups based on the E30 and E90 generation cars. Many markets, mainly Australia, have been begging BMW to build a pickup truck to rival the new Mercedes X-Class. Unfortunately, BMW has been hesitant, even calling the X-Class "appalling" in an interview.

At this year's 2018 Paris Motor Show, BMW told Motoring the bad news - a pickup truck isn't going to happen.

BMW development chief and board member Klaus Frohlich took responsibility for the decision saying, "I’m the bad guy." Even though BMW's Australian division has been begging the factory to build a pickup for years, Frohlich said: “I see no evidence that we can ever do a good proposition. If you look at the pickup market, it’s very much utilities, so median price points are very, very low. Every business case we did so far, it was by far not relevant. For us, the market segment is too small, because we are at the higher price level for pickups. The premium side of that market is extremely small [and] there’s only a few regions of the world – Australia is one of them.”

The development costs of a BMW truck would just be too high and the benefits too small. Mercedes saved costs by basing the X-Class on the Nissan Navara platform. BMW has already partnered with Toyota to build the Z4/Supra, so the idea of a Hilux-based BMW truck was also floated but Frohlich said: “We will never do something badge engineering."

Sorry to anyone who was holding out for a production version of the M3 Ute, but if you want one, you'll have to build it yourself.

Weird, Wonderful, Wacky Pickup Trucks You're Going To Love Or Hate

All pickups are cool. But some pickups are cooler than others.

The humble pickup truck is the backbone of America – the everyday workman’s vehicle that enables small business and farm living. It’s a vehicle ingrained in the country’s motoring history, as American brands arguably shaped the modern pickup into everything it is now. While pickups remain high-selling vehicles across the US and the world, some pickups have been far cooler than others. We’ve gathered ten of the best of them, ranging from the strangest to the coolest pickups around.

BMW E30 M3 Pickup

The BMW M3 is an iconic performance sedan – hallowed as one of the best drivers’ cars through the ages. But did you know that BMW built not one, but two M3 pickup concepts over the years? The first was based on the E30 M3 and was produced in 1986. It started out with a highly tuned 192 horsepower, 2.0-liter 4-cylinder motor originally, before being replaced by a 200-hp 2.3-liter unit. It interestingly made use of a convertible soft-top roof, and the vehicle actually found use as a transporter for BMW for 26 years before it was retired.

BMW E92 M3 Pickup

The second M3 Pickup was born from the E92 generation M3 coupe. The M3 Pickup featured the high-revving 4.0-liter V8 from the standard M3, and unlike the E30, it featured a hard-top roof that remained fixed. Though this one remained a one-off prototype, the concept has been emulated across the globe, with several self-made versions cropping up in Europe and South Africa.

Both M3 pickups featured load bins lined with aluminum tread plating, making them seem rugged enough for actual use. But with engines intended for high revving performance and relatively low on the torque front, they would’ve made rather shoddy production models.

Dodge Ram SRT 10

Dodge building pickups is as American as the 4th of July. But what’s more American than that is building a Dodge Ram with the meanest engine you can find jammed into the engine bay. Some may have thought they were insane to do it, but the madmen at Dodge didn’t care in the slightest and built the Ram SRT10, fitted with the same V10 engine found in the Dodge Viper.

The 8.3-liter displacement V10 generated 500 hp and 525 lb-ft of torque and could sprint from 0-60 mph in less than five seconds in regular cab trim. As far as insane pickups go, this is one of the best, but we’re glad they built it.

Chevrolet SSR

In the early 2000s, reviving names and styling of retro American classics was a real trend. Strangely, though, the trend only ever seemed to be used for disappointing budget commuters, or high-end performance icons. The Chevrolet SSR was one such high-end pickup that benefitted from the retro-package. The SSR (Super Sport Roadster) was unique for more than just its retro styling, though.

Despite being a pick-up, it was also a convertible, and while that wasn’t an entirely unique trait, the fact that it was a hard-top convertible was truly unique. The SSR started out life with a 5.3-liter V8 engine generating 300 hp before it was upgraded in 2005 to a 390-hp 6.0-liter LS2 V8. Production was short-lived, with just 24 150 SSRs produced over 4 years.

Mercedes-AMG G63 6x6

While the Mercedes-Benz X-Class might not have been a fully in-house Mercedes project, the AMG G63 6x6 definitely is. As far as pick-ups and off-roaders go, they don’t come more battle-ready than the Mercedes-AMG G63 6x6. The 6 wheel drive off-road pickup originally developed for the Australian military features a 536-hp twin-turbo 5.5-liter V8.

On top of that, it featured portal axles, diff-locks, and a whole host of hardcore hardware. The load bay might not be the most practical of all the pickups here, but the G63 6x6 is a true badass of the pickup world.

HSV Maloo

OK, it’s a Ute more than a pickup, but they’re still technically in the same segment. Holden Special Vehicles (HSV for short) has produced the Maloo Ute since 1990, based upon the standard Holden Ute, but turned up to the extreme. In its latest incarnation, the HSV Maloo R8 LSA goes balls to the wall in aspects.

Powered by a supercharged 6.2-liter LSA V8, it generates a massive 550 hp and 510 lb-ft that's sent all to the rear wheels. It features huge NASCAR-derived 6-piston brakes, torque vectoring, and launch control on models equipped with a manual transmission. Considering utes are a dying breed, the HSV Maloo is a living fossil, and as far as we’re concerned, it’s awesome.

Volkswagen Type 2

The Volkswagen Type 2 originally launched as a panel van and later as a minibus. But further on in its life cycle, VW launched the Type 2 Pickup. It was available in single- and crew-cab configurations and featured a deep load bin of rather sizable proportions. Despite being first launched in 1967, the Volkswagen Type 2 production continued until 2013 in Brazil, retaining an air-cooled engine until its dying days. File this one under ‘seriously cool’ – and if you’re lucky enough to own one, hang on to it!

Mini Paceman Adventure Concept

Mini has a history of producing pickups, as the original Morris Mini was converted into a pickup too, once upon a time. But in 2014, Mini revived the idea by converting a Paceman to a full on pickup, dubbed the Paceman Adventure Concept. While it probably wouldn’t be much use for actually carrying any loads, the 1.6-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine with 184 hp ensured that when unladen, the Paceman Adventure was rather quick, breaching 62 mph from standstill in 7.8 seconds. Jungle Green paintwork and special off-road tires added to the utilitarian visual, but thankfully Mini kept this as a concept.

Mercedes-Benz Unimog

If you thought the Mercedes-Benz X-Class was the first bona fide pickup from the German brand, you’d be very wrong. The Unimog class of vehicles has been produced in pickup versions for decades, used for everything from military to towing railways carts, and believe it or not, even in motorsport. The Unimog U5023 series – the latest generation – features a 5.1-liter turbocharged straight-4 diesel, Euro VI-compliant engine generating 231 hp and 664 lb-ft. It features 8 forward gears, 6 reverse gears, and can ford through 31 inches of water. It also features 18-inches of ground clearance and can go pretty much anywhere.

Lamborghini LM002

We’ve already established that supercar-powered pickups are pretty badass – the F150 Raptor keeps that trend alive today – but Lamborghini was actually one of the first to pioneer the idea. Sure, the LM002 might often be considered an SUV, but it was actually more of a pickup, though a couple of full-on SUV variations were produced. The load bay might not have been useful for heavy-duty work – originally intended as a military vehicle – but considering it featured a 444-hp 5.2-liter V12 straight from the Lamborghini Countach, the LM002 will forever live in infamy as one of the coolest pickups ever made.