The much-touted BMW i5 Touring will arrive in spring next year, the German firm has confirmed this morning, as the first all-electric estate on the market.
Marking the fifth generation since the full-size estate was launched in 1991, the EV will be launched after the saloon BMW 5 Series and i5 variants, which will arrive in October this year in Europe, Korea and the US.
The estate, like its saloon siblings, will – along with a pure-electric powertrain – be launched with petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid variants, the latter coming for both bodystyles later in 2024.
"This is our unique selling point in this segment," said BMW chairman Oliver Zipse during the car maker's annual conference.
The saloon will also get a M Performance variant, in the vein of the BMW i4 M50, BMW confirmed, opening the door for a hotter Touring version too.
“The all-electric BMW i4 M50 shows how BMW blends dynamic performance and electric mobility to perfection,” said Zipse. “It was the best-selling BMW M model worldwide in 2022. A fully electric Performance model from BMW M will also be included in the new BMW 5 Series sedan [saloon] line-up.”
BMW confirmed more details would be released soon, but the new Touring is expected to be available with the usual levels of practicality we’ve come to expect from such a competitive market. While BMW did not comment on boot space and leg room, we suspect the new estate will improve slightly on the current car’s 560 litres (with the seats raised) and trump the 480 litres on offer in the Mercedes E-Class Estate.
BMW has still to confirm if the 5 Series Touring will share its underpinnings with other models – however, the current car shares the same CLAR architecture that underpins the new BMW 4 Series, so its larger sibling could offer a similar powertrain line-up if it uses the same platform.
As such, the standard i5 Touring could be offered in rear- and four-wheel-drive guise with outputs ranging from 335bhp to 536bhp, the latter essentially creating an all-electric BMW M5 Touring. If it follows the same nomenclature as the BMW i4, we expect e40 and M50 nameplates to be reprised for both the 5 Series saloon and Touring editions.
The i4 makes use of an 80.7kWh battery pack, charging at up to 210kW. This allows for a maximum official range of between 255 and 367 miles.
Outside, photographs reveal an updated, sleeker headlight design and covered kidney grilles that don’t extend beyond the front numberplate (ie vertical), as on the current BMW M3 and 4 Series.
At the rear, the headlights retain BMW’s signature ‘L’ shape and the door handles are flush with the bodywork, as on the new BMW 2 Series. Joining these are BMW’s new-style door mirrors, as seen on the new BMW M240i.
Also recently captured by our photographers was the 5 Series saloon on test at the Nürburgring.
It will also feature a more sedate front-end layout with blanked-off kidney grilles for the electric i5 edition, leaving out BMW’s controversial ‘vertical’ kidney grilles for its huge-hitting family saloon.
The Touring and saloon i5 will join BMW’s ever-expanding EV range, including the arrival of the new BMW i7 flagship EV, the BMW iX and BMW iX1 SUVs and the BMW i4 saloon.
Combustion-engined cars that are central to the firm’s range will also gain fully electric versions just as the BMW X3-based BMW iX3 and 4 Series-based i4 did.
BMW is currently working towards its 2023 goal of offering at least one fully electric model in every segment alongside a commitment to selling more than seven million plug-in hybrid and pure-electric vehicles by the end of 2030.
