Knock its styling all you want, but you’ve got to hand it to BMW when it comes to choice. While the company has been busy releasing electric variants of its saloons – most recently with the i7 – it’s still releasing combustion variants for those who aren’t in the position to go down the EV route – and that’s exactly what it’s got up its sleeve for the all-new 5 Series.
Announced during its annual group conference, the company revealed that the eighth-generation 5 Series will be built on ‘flexible architecture’ (not literally), that allows for both combustion, hybrid and fully electric powertrain options. BMW hasn’t disclosed any performance or technical details yet, but it has confirmed that both petrol and diesel engines are in the works, along with both plug-in and 48V mild hybrid variants. An all-electric i5 will join the line-up in 2024, which will be offered in both saloon and Touring guise – the first EV estate to come out of Munich.
While there’s no word yet on the next M5, the company did confirm that BMW M has a hot saloon lined up for the electric i5. BMW chairman Oliver Zipse claims that the current i4 M50i was “the best-selling BMW M model worldwide in 2022”, an eye-opening reminder of how immensely popular premium EVs are. Little wonder that the company has a hot electric i5 in the pipeline.
Expect a lavish interior, highlighted by a vast curved touchscreen powered by the firm’s latest 8.5 software. BMW also claims that the new 5 Series is ‘more dynamic and more comfortable’ than before, and will feature a ‘fresh interpretation’ of the car’s ‘elegantly sporting design’. Could this mean that the 5 Series, one of the few cars left in the range with proportional kidney grilles, will bear a closer resemblance to the 4 and 7 Series? All will be revealed in October when the wraps come off the new 5 Series.