Well, that was a bit of a rollercoaster. After initial reports suggested that BMW’s head of design, Domagoj Dukec, had confirmed that the upcoming M5 Touring was bound for the US market, he quickly put out a statement denying that such a claim had been made.
Now, though, BMW has given official confirmation that, yes, the estate version of the new M5 is absolutely, definitely heading to the States. The confirmation comes as part of a wider announcement that the car – the seventh generation of BMW’s high-performance exec – is entering the final phase of prototype testing ahead of its full reveal later this year.
The appearance of a Touring version of the M5 is significant. There’s only been two before – the handbuilt, left-hand drive-only E34, introduced in 1992; and 2007’s E61, which featured the screaming 5.0-litre S85 V10. Both of those were Euro-market only, and the current M3 Touring isn’t available in North America either, meaning the new M5 Touring will be the first full-fat M division officially offered Stateside.
So far, BMW hasn’t gone into detail on the powertrain of the new M5, only confirming that it’ll be a hybrid. It says the powertrain is “closely related” to the one in its M Hybrid V8 LMDh racer, but logic dictates it’ll be far more closely related to that of the XM SUV. That car pairs a 4.4-litre twin-turbocharged V8 with an electric motor for a maximum output of 738bhp in the oddly-named Label (formerly Label Red) guise. We can expect similar figures from the new M5.
The other key bit of information we still don’t have is a launch date for the new car, but with the M5’s 40th anniversary approaching this autumn, we wouldn’t be surprised to see it arrive ahead of that.
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