LUXURY: BMW i7

Luxury means many different things to different people, but if ever a type of car was destined to benefit from the switch to electric powertrains, it would be the luxury car.

The push for serenity and refinement has become an obsession for some luxury carmakers, so eliminating the noise and vibrations of a conventional ICE powertrain, no matter how refined it may be, is essentially the Holy Grail of the luxury car market.

And the BMW i7 proves that point very emphatically indeed.

Massive and imposing, the i7 is a serenely silent powerhouse that is equally happy wafting along in silence as it is blasting to the legal open-road speed limit in less than five seconds.

Absolutely packed to the brim with the latest technology in every department, it can seem intimidating at first. But spend the time to set things up the way you want them and the i7 can be even smarter than your smart home.

Want to open the doors at the push of a button? Yep, it can do that. Want to close them again by putting your foot on the brake? Yep, it will happily do that too.

Of course, one of the other necessities for true luxury is space, and the i7 has plenty of that — longer and wider than a double cab ute, the i7 is massive, but the trade off is a supremely roomy and comfortable interior that you would usually associate with a luxury car with a winged lady on the bonnet . . . that happens to be also owned by BMW.

In fact, it really does feel like a Rolls-Royce wearing a high-tech German disguise.

Runners-up: Maserati Grecale,