SPY PICS: New BMW M5 plugs in at Nurburgring

The next-generation BMW M5 has been spotted testing again – both on public roads and undergoing high-performance testing around the fabled Nurburgring.

The latest spy pics don’t unearth anything ground-breaking that we haven’t seen before, but like the M5 prototype spied on public roads back in January (pictured again here in a different location), the camouflaged car seen at the German road circuit wears ‘Hybrid Test Vehicle’ stickers and a charging port on the left front guard.

As we’ve reported, that confirms the next BMW M5 will come with a plug-in hybrid powertrain, which is likely to be an electrified version of its existing twin-turbo 4.4-litre petrol V8, supported by a pair of electric motors that should push peak outputs to a mighty 560kW/1000Nm.

Outputs like that would jettison the new M5 to the top of the all-time BMW M power tables, at least until the same powertrain evolves and emerges in other models such as the BMW XM plug-in hybrid SUV.

Supporting this supercar-slaying grunt will be a set of high-performance brakes, which can be seen clear as day in both the road and track shots, looking like dustbin lids lurking behind simple black five-spoke alloy wheels.

Being an M5, you can expect BMW M to throw everything but the kitchen sink at its new passenger car flagship in order to make it as fast as possible while retaining comfort levels with almost infinite set-up adjustability.

The latest spy pics also give us another look at the M5’s revised silhouette, which like the upcoming eighth-generation BMW 5 Series sedan and its electric i5 sibling will evolve from a traditional sedan into more of a four-door fastback with a swooping roofline and tapered rear-end.

Traditionalists need not fear though, as the new BMW 5 Series and M5 will not morph into something as sleek as the Mercedes-Benz CLS, Audi A7 Sportback or even BMW’s own 8 Series Gran Coupe.

Either way, when the new BMW M5 tops the redesigned 5 Series range that’s due to emerge later this year, it will have big shoes to fill including the Bavarian brand’s most powerful production model ever – the swansong limited-edition four-seat 467kW BMW M5 CS, which for about $300K shaves 70kg off the weight of the current M5 Competition and hits 100km/h in just 3.0sec.

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