Next-gen 5 Series to offer EVS alongside PHEV and ICE models
THE CURRENT BMW 5 Series is set to be replaced in 2024, seven years after its launch, by an all-new, boldly redesigned successor with batteryelectric, plug-in hybrid and pure-combustion powertrains. EV and PHEV prototypes have been spotted testing at a BMW facility, giving us a first look at how BMW plans to visually reinvent its crucial executive flagship. Notably, the controversial ‘vertical’ grilles from the 4 Series and the new M3 are absent, with the next-generation 5 Series instead adopting what looks to be a more familiar horizontal layout, which will be blankedoff for the EV. The front end itself is a much sharper arrangement, with the grilles angled rearwards to give the bonnet a small degree of overhang, while the rear end moves away from the conventional three-box saloon shape for a fastback-style silhouette. The 5 Series is one of several models gaining a pure-electric variant before 2025, along with the X1, X3, 3 Series, 4 Series and 7 Series. Exact powertrain details remain under wraps at this early stage, but the current 5 Series uses the same CLAR architecture that underpins the ICE and EV versions of the new 4 Series, so the electric i5 could be offered with both rearwheel-drive and four-wheeldrive powertrains, with outputs ranging from 335bhp in the i5 edrive40 up to 536bhp in the performance-oriented i5 M50 xdrive (if it follows the modelnaming strategy of the i4). The i4 uses an 80.7kwh battery pack, chargeable at speeds of up to 210kw, for a maximum official range of between 255 and 367 miles. The PHEV versions of the new 5 Series, meanwhile, are likely to retain their current 530e and 545e badging, with electrified four-cylinder and six-cylinder petrol engines respectively. A range of Iceonly variants is expected to continue, at least initially. It remains to be seen, however, whether BMW will reintroduce the 523bhp V8-powered M550i range-topper, and the M5 will almost certainly adopt some form of electrification. A full unveiling of the new 5 Series is expected some time in 2023, ahead of a market launch in 2024.