What's better than a pickup truck – or even Jeep Gladiator – loaded with motorcycles? A mystical BMW pickup truck with a BMW adventure bike strapped atop its teak-lined bed. It's not the BMW pickup truck teaser that some fans might like, but it's a cool little X7 pickup project, nonetheless.
It wasn't so long ago that we saw a ruggedized, one-off modern Mini pickup, and now parent company BMW has tried its hand at rolling out a tough-but-luxurious truck built to keep up with changing times. The one-of-a-kind conversion was performed by vocational trainees under the guidance of BMW's Concept Vehicle Construction and Model Technology divisions in Munich.
Over the course of just 10 months, the 12 apprentices transformed a standard 340-hp BMW X7 xDrive40i SUV into a crew cab X7 pickup that BMW promises is a proper road-legal, show-car-grade work truck. The project saved an old test X7 that was headed to the scrapheap.
The trainees clearly spent most of their time in back, transforming the X7's third row and load area into a fully functional 4.6-ft (1.4-m) load bed that extends to 6.6 ft (2 m) once the tailgate drops. By using carbon fiber construction on areas including the roof and rear doors, they were able to cut weight by 440 lb (200 kg), even with the addition of 4 in (10 cm) of length.
BMW, in turn, made use of that extended length to tie the X7 Pick-up concept to its debut venue at Motorrad Days, showing how easily the truck loaded an F 850 GS adventure bike. The two vehicles make fitting bedfellows, as the 850 is designed to offer much the same long-distance touring comfort, on/off-road capability and adventurous spirit as a pickup truck with flagship-level BMW cabin and height-adjustable air suspension. Once the road narrows too much for the X7 Pick-up, the journey continues aboard the F 850 GS.
The world of yachts helped inspire the finish of the custom truck, with a fine-polished teakwood bed lining and seaworthy shade of tanzanite blue metallic paint. While BMW doesn't highlight it in the photos, we're sure the five-seat cabin is equally luxurious, thanks to its X7 basis.
BMW describes the X7 Pick-up as a one-off special project and makes a point of saying that production isn't planned – but similarly strange things have indeed happened in the past.
Source: BMW
