The current 7-Series, known internally as the G70, might be one of BMW’s most debated designs in years, second only to the polarizing Bangle-era E65. While enthusiasts wait for the Neue Klasse facelift expected in 2026, the present model has taken on a different kind of spotlight in Korea, where it has been turned into an art car.

This one-off creation comes from a collaboration with Lee Kun-Yong, widely regarded as one of Korea’s most influential avant-garde artists. Known for performances that use his own body as a medium, Kun-Yong often translates movement into striking abstractions, most famously in his Bodyscape series.

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A fully electric BMW i7 equipped with the M Package became the 83-year-old artist’s mobile canvas. He designed a special wrap anchored in a vivid red base, which remains visible on the front and rear fenders, side skirts, roof pillars, and rear deck.

However, the rest of the vehicle sports paintings with faces, hearts, leaves, and abstract shapes that cover the doors, the bumpers, the lower portion of the tailgate and the hood. Each side of the large executive sedan is unique, resulting in an asymmetrical layout.

According to BMW, the artist’s goal was to “reflect the precision and responsiveness inherent in the dialogue between driver and car, drawing parallels to his own artistic practice”.

Kun-Yong said that he views art as “a bridge between different objects, different people and even different perspectives,” and hopes the collaboration creates new points of connection between art and technology.

Exhibition In Seoul

The colorful i7 will be exhibited at the BMW Lounge in Seoul, Korea, between September 3 and 6, alongside a collection of 18 miniature art cars. Furthermore, Lee Kun-Yong will create a new canvas as part of a live show on September 4, taking inspiration from his work on the vehicle.

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This year, the Bavarian automaker is celebrating 50 years of BMW Art Cars with a global exhibition program, and the 30 years of BMW Korea. For this reason, it is organizing an art fair that will be held at the Gagman district of Seoul, including 120 galleries from 30 countries. Finally, local artist Crush, known for creating a blend of pop, R&B and hip hop music, will perform at the latest edition of Frieze Music in Seoul on September 5.

BMW

Less than a month ago, BMW announced a recall impacting more than 70,000 of its electric vehicles, revealing a software issue that could cause the high-voltage system to shut down unexpectedly. Fast forward to July, and the German brand has issued another recall for several of its EVs in the United States. This time, the recall is also related to battery cell modules that may have been assembled incorrectly.

Read: BMW Recalls Thousands Of EVs That Can Lose Power While Driving

According to the recall notice, the issue stems from the process of compressing individual battery cells to form a single module. In this case, BMW says the force used to combine the cells within the module may have exceeded its specifications. This means that over the lifetime of the vehicle, and when combined with repeated charging sessions, the module frame could fail.

What Can Go Wrong

If the frame does weaken or fail, it could lead to a shutdown of the high-voltage system. This would result in a total loss of propulsion, creating a potential crash risk. There’s also an increased chance of fire if a failure occurs.

The recall impacts a total of 136 vehicles. Oftentimes, only a small percentage of affected vehicles are thought to have the issue. That’s not the case here, as BMW believes that all 136 vehicles have battery cell modules that may not have been assembled to specifications.

Those include 2022-2025 BMW iX models manufactured from November 3, 2021, and February 14, 2024, as well as 2023-2024 BMW i7s built from June 12, 2023, to July 19, 2023, and 2022-2023 BMW i4s assembled from June 2, 2022, to May 11, 2023.

Notably, vehicles involved in the recall may not suffer from any issues for quite some time. In its analysis, BMW says that damage to the module frame of impacted models may not occur until the latter part of 2026. Nevertheless, it’s decided now is the time to issue a recall.

Owners will begin receiving notification letters on September 5. Dealers have already been instructed to replace the affected high-voltage battery cell modules on all impacted vehicles.

BMW is recalling 70,852 EVs because their electric drive motor software may shut down the high-voltage system. This can result in a loss of drive power, which increases the risk of a crash.

An assortment of models are impacted including the 2022-2025 i4, 2022-2024 iX, and 2023-2024 i7. BMW is also recalling 4,674 i5s from the 2024 model year.

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According to the safety recall report, the electric drive motor software may “erroneously detect a double-isolation condition.” If this occurs, the high-voltage system will shut down for approximately 15-20 seconds following a warning message. This will effectively leave drivers coasting, but the government noted the steering and braking system will continue to operate.

BMW began investigating the issue in 2021 and initially believed debris could have gotten into electric motors and affected their performance. However, there was a “very low number of claims” at the time and this made it hard to pinpoint the problem.

Despite the difficulties, the automaker spent years looking into the issue and eventually focused on the possibility of a loss of propulsion due to detection of a double-isolation condition. This analysis suggested the “vehicle software could not determine, whether a detected double-isolation condition was, in fact, a true double-isolation condition, which warranted a high-voltage system shutdown or, was, in fact, only a single-isolation condition.” This is important as a double-isolation condition triggers a shutdown of the high-voltage system as part of a fail-safe measure to prevent an electric shock or a “thermal risk.”

BMW believes they have received approximately 43 warranty claims related to the issue, which resulted in loss of propulsion at speeds greater than 20 mph (32 km/h). Thankfully, the company isn’t aware of any accidents or injuries related to the problem.

To address the issue, BMW will install new electric drive motor software as part of an over-the-air update. Customers can also have this installed at dealerships and owner notifications are slated to go out on August 5.