It still feels like a fever dream that a BMW M5 Touring is really happening. Now, as we continue to wait to see the final car in between tonnes of teasers, there’s even more exciting news – it’s apparently coming to America.
According to The Car Guide, BMW’s head of design Domagoj Dukec confirmed the news we know so many were hoping to hear during the launch. The publication hasn’t provided any direct quotes but says it was mentioned at the media launch of the new X2 SUV.
There hasn’t been an M5 Touring since the V10-powered E61 version bowed out over a decade ago, and that was never sold Stateside, so this is a big deal. The wagon will be developed alongside the all-new M5 saloon, itself derived from the new ‘G60’ 5-series with both arriving later this year. BMW says both cars will feature “a completely newly developed partially electrified drive system,” although we’re taking that to mean ‘new to the M5’. It seems likely that the plug-in hybrid setup built originally for the controversial XM will be adapted for its future saloon and estate siblings.
The XM, as a reminder, hides an S68 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 behind its giant nostrils, backed up by a single electric motor integrated into the automatic gearbox. Combined, these two propulsion sources provide a whopping 738bhp in the XM Label Red. We’d expect BMW to opt for a smaller battery in the M5, however, with the XM squeezing a sizeable 29.5kWh pack into its platform to give an electric-only range of 55 miles.
The big-booted M5 will begin testing on the road in the next few days near BMW’s home city of Munich. Perhaps inevitably, tests on the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife are planned, “with the aim of ensuring the ideal balance of sporting performance on the racetrack and superior ride comfort in everyday driving and over long distances,” BMW says.
Along with the aforementioned E61, the only other time BMW made an M5 Touring was for the E34 generation. Few were built, and it never made it to the UK in right-hand drive.
The new one follows last year’s fabulous M3 Touring, a car that BMW says “also underscores the high appeal of this special vehicle concept in the premium midrange segment of high-performance cars.”
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