At the company’s annual press conference on the night, BMW teased the pure electric variant of its upcoming Series 5 sedan. Like the other electric vehicles in its range, the electric 5 Series will be known as the i5.
The new 5 Series sedan, codenamed G60, and probably the i5 too, will be launched in October 2023. This i5 sedan will be joined by a wagon version – Touring in BMW parlance – in 2024.
When the i5 Touring launches, it will enter the sparsely populated wagon segment of the ever-growing electric vehicle market. Currently, the only other competitor to the Western brand is the Porsche Taycan wagon, which is available both as a regular Sport Turismo and as an elevated version CountrysideCross Turismo styling variants.
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BMW i5 Touring -
Although the Taycan wagon and the new i5 Touring should be about the same length, the BMW should be roomier given its straighter tailgate and taller body.
The regular 5 Series, i5 Sedan and i5 Wagon were spied being tested.
BMW CEO Oliver Zipse said today that the i5 will feature “a fully electric Performance model from BMW M GmbH”. He noted the i4 The M50 was the M division’s best-selling model in 2022.
The i4 M50 features a twin-motor all-wheel-drive setup with a total of 400 kW and 795 Nm. The i4 M50 is capable of a 0-60 mph time of 3.9 seconds, making it makes it faster than the standard rear-wheel-drive M3 (4.2 seconds), line ball with 375 kW/650 Nm M3 Competition (3.9 seconds), but slower than the four-wheel-drive M3 Competition (3.5 seconds).
In comparison, the 250 kW/430 Nm i4 eDrive40 and the 209 kW/400 Nm i4 eDrive35 both have a single motor driving the rear wheels.
As for the i4 “four-door coupe”, and i7 sedan, the i5 will ride on the CLAR architecture which supports petrol, diesel, plug-in hybrid and fully electric drivetrains.
Judging by BMW’s latest series of EVs, visual differences between the internal combustion engine (ICE) 5 Series models and the i5 EV will be limited to the grille, wheels, badging and, possibly, to the bumpers.
MORE: All BMW 5 Series
