It's official. If you want a seven-seater BMW, you'll have to settle for the revised X5.

The Bavarian company has shelved its plans for a conventional multi-seater in favour of an exceptionally comfortable four-seater.

Board member Michael Ganal says the car is known internally as a luxury sports cruiser, and will offer First Class travel for four.

"What we see today is that passengers in the front are clearly in First Class, but those in the second row are quite often in a compromise," he says. "In contrast to what our competitors have done, we won't offer a third row. We will focus only on the second row. This is the latest update."

The car, expected to have four independent seats, will be launched after next year.

Dr Ganal describes it as a combination of a four-door coupe and an X5: "We expect we will be the first to have such a coupe-SAV crossover." SAV is sports-activity vehicle - BMW-speak for sports-utility vehicle.

Next year, expect to see new variants of the 1-series. BMW has not yet decided whether to introduce the subcompact to Singapore.

Dr Ganal was in town this week for BMW's annual Asian press conference.

Asked why the company does not have diesel-powered versions of its M sports series, he says the M cars are typically high-revving machines (while most diesels are low-revving).

"Can you imagine a Ferrari that runs on diesel?"

He reveals that BMW may have its own double-clutch transmission - something which the Volkswagen Group has applied to great success in cars like the Golf GTI and Audi TT.

But he dismissed the possibility of continuously-variable transmissions in BMWs, although CVT can be found in group-owned Minis.