BMW M5 Touring could be reborn

Will BMW’s high-performance M division follow up the first BMW M3 Touring with a born-again BMW M5 Touring?

We’re hoping the answer is yes, and new intel suggests a pulse-pounding BMW M5 wagon is in development and could arrive by 2025.

With the ‘frozen’ matte paint still drying on the 2023 BMW M3 Touring revealed earlier this month, a broader high-performance wagon revival from the Bavarian brand may be on the cards.

And at its heart could be the return of a more practical, bigger-booted version of BMW M5 super-sedan that would provide a high-output load-lugging alternative to popular V8-powered performance/luxury SUVs including BMW’s own X5 M.

That’s the word from a Bimmerpost forum user known as ‘ynguldyn’, who claims the start of production (SOP in industry-speak) for the new BMW M5 Touring will take place in November 2024, and whose track record of consistently correct intel lends weight to the information.

Given the runaway success of SUVs, which have cannibalised sales of traditional passenger wagon over the past few decades, it’s not clear how the business case for what would be the first BMW M5 wagon in more than a decade would stack up.

Nevertheless, the next-generation BMW M5 Touring, which may be designated G99, would build on the buzz currently being generated by the German car-maker’s first M3 wagon, which has re-ignited interest in the flaming-hot station wagon niche.

If a new BMW M5 Touring does eventuate, it won’t be the first tailgated M5 to put rubber on the road, with two previous models bobbing up in the early 1990s and late 2000s.

Based on the third-generation E34 BMW 5 Series, the first M5 Touring was produced between 1992 and 1996, and powered by a 250kW 3.8-litre inline six-cylinder engine.

More than a decade later, the E60 BMW M5 Touring was available between 2007 and 2010, powered by a thumping circa-370kW 5.0-litre V10.

If the blistering family wagon is reincarnated in a few years, it’ll likely be propelled by the same bonkers hybrid V8 powerplant that’s set to lob in the new G90 BMW M5 sedan, which was spied earlier in 2022.

That engine is highly likely to be the ‘S68’ hybrid V8 donk (480kW/800Nm) already seen in the BMW XM super-SUV, and could belt out an astonishing 560kW and 1000Nm.

That’s a lot more herbs and spices than the current M5 Competition’s potent 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 (460kW/750Nm) and it’s made possible via the fitment of two electric motors and a battery pack. A circa-80km EV range is likely as well.

The new S68 powertrain and will pump through a ZF eight-speed automatic transmission, driving all four wheels to deliver spleen-popping acceleration and a rumbling V8 war-cry.

It’s looking increasingly likely the next-generation BMW 5 Series, of which the M5 will remain the performance flagship, could be one of the last BMW models to offer V8 power, as the brand seeks to fully electrify half of its model portfolio by 2030.

The new BMW 5 Series sedan is tipped to break cover later this year, before sales commence in 2023.

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