BMW launches its Neue Klasse platform, which will first underpin a 3 Series-sized sedan that will debut in late 2025, it will continue to launch electric and electrified models based on its current CLAR platform. One such model is the next-generation 5 Series, also available as the pure-electric i5, whose debut has now been confirmed for 2023.
This was announced by BMW’s CEO, Oliver Zipse, during a recent quarterly call when he simply stated, without giving any additional details, that
Next year, we will be electrifying another core BMW-brand product: the 5 Series.
Just like the CEO of Mercedes-Benz recently did, Zipse also mentioned that BMW has seen very strong demand for its new i4 and iX (pictured below), adding that the company has never in its history had so many pre-orders. Apparently, the order books for the two aforementioned EVs, innovation drivers as BMW calls them, are full for several months.
Gallery: 2022 BMW iX xDrive 40 road test gallery
Zipse also mentions another very important new EV, the iX1, whose debut he confirms for the fourth quarter of 2022. It will be another EV that is built on a platform shared with ICE variants, in a lineup of electric vehicles where only the flagship iX sits on a bespoke EV architecture (one that previews but isn’t the 2025 Neue Klasse platform)
Next year’s i5 will be a larger, more comfortable and luxurious proposition compared to the sportier i4. No word on specs yet, but what may interest some prospective buyers is the fact that it will not have a polarizing design - there is a good chance the new G60 will be a great looking, understated BMW like most of the 5 Series generations that have preceded it.
Gallery: 2024 BMW i5 spy photos
It won’t have a huge fake grille or strangely shaped headlights and based on what we can tell from spy photos of camouflaged prototypes, it looks like a classy (maybe even slightly dull) sedan. You will be able to tell the BEV i5 apart from ICE variants by its fully closed grille, special bumpers and wheels with blue accents, as well as subtle badging all around.
BMW has not confirmed if it is making an electric version of the 5 Series Touring, the wagon, but we see no reason why it couldn’t be offered. According to an older report based on unnamed insider sources from within BMW, the manufacturer will offer the i5 Touring as its first ever electric wagon, but we have so far seen no Touring prototypes at all, so we can’t yet be sure it’s going to happen.
