150. That’s how many Individual colors BMW has lined up for the long-awaited return of the M5 Touring. The third iteration of Bavaria’s big super wagon made its public debut last week at Pebble Beach. That G99 build had an Isle of Man Green paint, while the press shots showed the special car in Frozen Deep Gray. If you’re looking for something different, you’d better get a plane ticket to Munich.
The BMW Welt is hosting this M5 Touring in Speed Yellow with the optional carbon fiber side mirror caps. As previously reported, you can’t have the roof in carbon, not even as an option. Another disappointment is the omission of a rear glass opening. On the E34 and E61 M5 wagons, owners can open the rear glass independently of the tailgate to quickly access the cargo area. The regular 5 Series Touring G61 has sadly lost this feature as well. Thankfully, it’s still implemented in the smaller G21 3 Series Touring and its spicy G81 M3 sibling.
We’re still having a hard time adjusting to the idea of a charging port on an M car. The M5 is not the first to have it since the plug-in hybrid XM has been around for a couple of years. The two cars largely share the same internals by combining a twin-turbo V8 engine with an electric motor. BMW is said to be dropping the base XM, leaving only the Label version that packs a greater punch than the M5. In some markets, there’s also a six-cylinder XM 50e but the M5 won’t get the downsized powertrain.
The M5 and XM are not the only cars from BMW M with a plug-in hybrid setup. There’s also the M760e as an M Performance version of the 7 Series. It indirectly replaced the V12-powered M760i sold during the flagship’s previous generation. However, with only half the cylinder count, it’s hardly a successor.
Source: BMW Welt / Instagram