► 2024’s new BMW M5 to electrify
► PHEV powertrain puts out >700bhp
► Offered as saloon or Touring estate
High-performance estates are well and truly back: no sooner has Munich launched the first-ever BMW M3 Touring, then it’s following up with a bigger brother – the officially confirmed M5 Touring.
After many years of letting arch rivals Audi and Mercedes-AMG hoover up the mainstream performance estate market, BMW is now actively extending its M division into every which bodystyle. And that means the wicked wagon is back.
Codenamed G90, the new BMW M5 arrives first as a saloon in 2024 and then six months later as the Touring wagon (the G99) depicted in CAR magazine’s new artist’s impression (above).
What does the G90/G99 BMW M5 look like?
These are your first spy pictures of the new high-performance wagon on the road. And, in more ways than one, it represents a dramatic change from the current F90 era.
It’s a typical BMW M brute-in-a-suit affair, taking the existing new BMW 5-series Touring bodyshell and massaging it with aero packages, bumper details and the mandatory quartet of exhaust pipes to give that V8 a freer voice. Look out for blackened grille and aero features, giving the M5 a sinister air; it’s bisected at the rear by the body-coloured V-shaped strip.
What about the powertrain?
The new M5 will become the first M car to be fully electrified, using the same brawny 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 plus 25.7kWh battery and e-motor combination as the XM Label Red. Note the charging flap on the front flank, for topping up the battery when parked up.
BMW has taken the unusual step of releasing its own ‘official’ spyshots of the wagon, confirming the first M5 Touring since the E61 that launched in 2007.
The 5-series range-toppers, coded G90 (M5 saloon) and G99 (M5 Touring) will muster different power outputs, depending on how far up the spec ladder you are willing to travel.
Regular M5s will develop 653bhp, sources say. And there may be even more to come, like the secret-new BMW M5 CS version destined to make its 748bhp, sharing its PHEV drivetrain with the 2023 Label Red version of the XM SUV Pikes Peak car.
Those heady power outputs include the 195bhp electric motor, which can drive the maximum Five all on its own at lower speeds. All-wheel drive is mandatory and torque distribution is designed to harness all that power unobtrusively.
We’re promised an improved version of all-wheel steering, too, active anti-roll bars with automatic ride-height control and more powerful brakes, interacting with the various electronic systems to recycle surplus energy.
The new M5 will most likely again offer a choice of steering and braking calibrations in addition to the usual list of dynamic adjustment opportunities. Our spies have nosed around briefly inside the new G90 BMW M5 (see above).
What happened to an electric M5?
Theoretically, BMW could extend its parallel-universe all-electric powertrain to the M models. After all, the 650bhp BMW i7 M70 xDrive was unveiled in April 2023, and its scalable powertrain could be shoehorned into the G60 matrix without much hassle.
In the bigger 7-series bodyshell, it scampers silently from 0-62mph in 3.7sec. However, the product planners in Munich have put the brakes on this project, deeming a plug-in hybrid with the ability to run silently around town for around 50 miles or rip it up with a howling V8 on your favourite back road a better choice.
That’s the smart thing about Munich’s current open-technology approach: you can go all-in when the time is right; you can hang on a bit longer with more conservative options; or mix-and-match until legislation intervenes or the rate of electric adoption changes.
When will the new BMW M5 launch?
It’s expected to be revealed later in 2024, with a suitable gap after the new G60-generation BMW 5-series goes on sale. We expect the BMW M5 Touring to launch in 2025.