As exciting as cars like the BMW M2 and M4 CSL are, one car that many customers are even more excited about is the upcoming BMW i5 Touring. Why would an all-electric wagon be even more exciting than an M2 or M4 CSL? Because it’s a car far more buyers are going to actually put their money down for. So when new spy photos pop up, you can imagine that those potential customers get very excited. (We don’t own these spy photos but you can see them here)
The BMW i5 Touring has the potential to be a very popular car among customers. It’s essentially going to be a 5 Series Touring, one of the most popular everyday Bimmers in Europe, just with an electric powertrain. And with BMW’s newest battery and charging tech, it will likely have more than enough power, range, and charging speed to accommodate most customers’ lifestyles. But, more importantly, as you can see in these spy photos, BMW is keeping its styling subtle.
BMW’s design plan for its upcoming models is to keep cars like the 3 Series, X3, 5 Series, and X5 subtle. So all of its normal cars will feature traditional, calmer BMW styling. While more flamboyant luxury cars like 7 Series, iX, and XM will all feature more dramatic styling. So the BMW i5 Touring is going to have the same traditional look as the normal 5er, which will make it far more popular for typical BMW customers than the i4 has been.
As you can see in these photos, it looks like a normal 5 Series Touring. It has the same basic shape, traditional looking kidney grilles, and pretty typical Bimmer headlights, even if they are a bit swoopy. It will also mean that the i5 Touring will be one of the only normal looking electric BMWs on sale, alongside the iX1. However, since the i5 Touring is more premium and likely more practical (hard to tell until BMW reveals its cargo volume), it’s going to be an incredibly popular car.
There’s no word just yet on what sort of powertrains BMW will offer but it’s likely to follow the i4’s lead. That would mean a single-motor/rear-drive setup and a dual-motor/all-wheel drive setup. We know an M60 version is on the way as well, which will be mega. However, it would be interesting if BMW offered a single motor setup with less power and a big battery, to sort of emulate the diesel experience so many European customers lust after. Either way, this is going to be a car that actual customers want and we’re very interested to see how it’s received.
[Source: Motor1]
