The rumor started earlier this year, when one day BMW official website suddenly posted a page of the 720i model, then withdrawed that webpage shortly after.
Although no one inside BMW ever commented, denied or confirmed the existence of 720i, I still consider this model actually make a business case, not in US or north America, but in Europe and Asia, especially the Chinese market.
Perhaps still not widely known for US customers, BMW did create some very special version of their 3 and 5 series in the Chinese market: they have a long wheel base versions of the 3/5 sedans there.
For example as shown below, a 2014 model year 520Li (“Prestige” trim in the following photos), sold in China and some Middle East markets. Look at its side profile, the 520Li has an extremely long wheel base of 122.4 inches, which is even way longer than the short wheel base 7 series (120.9 inches).
The interior cabin is, of course, very spacious. Look at the following photo: with the fron driver seat almost all the way back, you still have a quite enormous back seat legroom. You won’t get the same space in a SWB 7 series.
The 520Li weights about 3,836lb, propelled by a 181hp, 199lb-ft torque four cylinder turbo engine.
You may wonder why people want to buy a 181hp sedan which is even longer than, and almost as heavy as the BMW 7 series? We all know a base Hyundai Sonata has a even higher output engine (190hp).
Indeed, for US market this is totally nonsense, even for people who want to buy to buy a fuel efficient car. But in other places of the world, situations are totally different. For example in Chinese market, city traffic is congested to the extend that, quite a lot of people give up driving during rush hours. It is typical that you spend 2 or 3 hours, then you just move about 2 miles. Therefore driving in China, you really do not need a powerful engine; because you seldom have a chance to use that power. Actually you just need to have a engine which can move your car, that is enough.
And customer in China focus more on the “personal image” thing. For example, given a choice between a fully loaded Mercedes-Benz C63AMG Edition 507 and a base Porsche Boxster without any options, then most people in China will pick the Porsche without hesitating, because the public consensus there considers the Porsche brand is higher level than the Mercedes-Benz. Similar to this, people in China generally consider a BMW 7 series, no matter what trim and what option it has, is still much more “prestige” than a 3/5 series, including the M3 and M5.
Thus a 720Li sedan make a business case in Chinese market. The 720Li can let more customer to own a 7 series for a lower price, and get the “personal image” halo they want. It is the 7 series badge that sells the car.
Please do not blame or laught at them. This is not related to car knowledge or education level, it is a cultural thing. If you are going to do business and live in China, I believe you will soon do the same thing when purchasing a new car.
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