According to drive.com.au, the elusive M5 Touring is set to make a comeback for the first time since the V10-powered wagon first launched back in 2007. Yes, all signs point towards the new generation M5 receiving an estate variant to rub shoulders with the likes of the Audi RS6 and giving another great reason for enthusiast buyers to avoid SUVs. It will join the BMW M3 Touring that was released in Australia late last year.
RELATED: 2023 BMW M3 Touring Revealed, Priced for Australia.
To be unveiled in November 2024 – according to Bimmerpost forum member ynguldyn, who claims to hold valid leaks within BMW – the new M5 Touring will have a “newly developed partially electrified drive system” which means a plug-in hybrid powertrain taken from the BMW XM alongside a raft of new technologies crammed in to make this the fastest iteration of this famed performance car.
“We are now also installing a hybrid drive system with typical M performance in other high-performance cars,” says Dirk Häcker, Head of Development at BMW M GmbH hinting at how the electrification journey of the M brand is going to be in the future.
There have not been many Touring models though as the first BMW M5 Touring was launched back in 1992 based on the second-generation BMW M5 Sedan while the last one was based on the fourth generation. With the seventh-generation model, we expect power figures to significantly jump to near the 550kW and 1000Nm power figure of the BMW XM Label Red.
Prototypes of the new BMW M5 have been spotted testing in urban traffic, country roads and motorways around the BMW M GmbH headquarters in Garching. Of course, testing for the drive and suspension components would also be carried out on the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife, among other places so we’d expect spy shots to pop up over the next few months.
With our ever-increasing appetite for performance cars, expect the new M5 Touring to also slip into Australian soil. In the meantime, you can read our review of the BMW M4 convertible.
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