BMW's New 7 Series Is Packed With Innovative Tech, but the Marketing Is an Experiment, Too

Can it sell itself as well as it parks itself?

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COLOGNE, Germany—BMW showed off its gadget-stuffed new 7 series, which enters the automotive market in the next month, at a packed event at the Dmexco conference.

Filled with high-tech features that would make James Bond envious—such as a key fob that can park your car remotely and doubles as fuel gauge—the BMW line is also undergoing a shift in how it's marketed (though it has no plans to abandon its "Ultimate Driving Machine" tagline).

"We want to stay true to ourselves, but also to take our marketing to another stage," said Timo Resch, BMW's vp of product management for the Grand series, in his introduction.

Resch launched into an explanation of all manner of bells and whistles that have gone into the new 7 series, including in-car gesture controls of volume and phone calls, a removable tablet in the backseat, lighter and more environamentally efficient carbon fiber technology, and the aforementioned...

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