After recently showing off the M5 30 Jahre Edition from the F10 era, BMW UK is back with another super sedan to ease the wait until next year’s M5 G90 arrival. This time around, the British side of the luxury automaker is putting the spotlight on an M5 E60 in the sedan body style and right-hand drive. The sporty saloon was manufactured in 2010, and like all M5s from that generation, it has the S85 engine.
BMW UK makes an interesting and rather daring comment about this fifth iteration of the 5er penned by Chris Bangle: “If you parked the E60 5 Series next to any A6 or E-Class of the time, it would be like parking the Space Shuttle next to the Wright brothers’ aeroplane.” With this being the M5, the naturally aspirated V10 adds to the allure of the luxury saloon.
As was the case with the majority of M5s from this generation, this car part of the BMW UK historic press car fleet has the seven-speed, automated manual gearbox (SMG III). In the United States, the sports sedan was offered with a six-speed manual. In total, 19,523 sedans were produced, plus 1,025 units in the more practical wagon body style.
A closer look at the sales figures shows the United States was the largest market for the M5 E60 with 8,800 units sold in the country. At home in Germany, BMW delivered 1,647 cars, while the UK and Ireland accounted for a combined 1,776 examples. Japan was also an important market, with 1,357 cars sold, while another 512 cars were delivered in Italy.
As for the more practical wagon, the M5 Touring (E61) was purchased 302 times in Germany, followed by the UK and Ireland with 208 units and Italy with 184 cars.
It’s worth noting BMW M also made an M5 CSL but never sold it. In fact, the car was kept a secret. It used an uprated version of the ten-cylinder engine with over 600 horsepower routed to the wheels via a dual-clutch, seven-speed automatic transmission. It had a higher redline and weighed less than the standard model by making generous use of carbon fiber.
Source: BMW UK