Photo: Stefan Baldauf/SB-Medien
BMW engineers are hard at work testing all the body versions of the next-generation 5 Series. This time, we provide you with a set of spy photos of the 2017 BMW 5 Series Touring.
The upcoming 5 Series will feature a new platform, called 35up. This modular architecture is shared with the current 7 Series, and might eventually be used in the future 3 Series. Thanks to the new 35up platform, the 5 Series will gain enhanced body rigidity while losing weight.
Sources close to the German company reveal that the next 5 Series could drop as much as 220 pounds (100 kg) thanks to this platform. The range of engines available for the next 5 Series will include four-cylinder, six-cylinder, and eight-cylinder units.
Concerning transmissions, the six-speed manual is here to stay with the 5 Series, while the eight-speed automatic unit will remain an option for some engines and standard on others. The upcoming M5 will continue to have its dedicated M DCT transmission, which will probably still have seven forward gears.
The weight loss brought on the new platform will allow BMW to implement more hybrid options in the 5 Series range. We expect those hybrids to be of the plug-in variety and to provide a generous electric range. There’s no official information regarding these versions so far, but BMW might even make the 5 Series Touring a plug-in hybrid, if their marketing department considers that customer demand would support it.
The prototype you can see in the images provided by our friends at SB-Medien is not a hybrid. It is also heavily camouflaged, so there’s not too much of it visible. BMW has not brought a significant change in the general silhouette of the 5 Series Touring, as this body style does not allow drastic differences in shape from one model to the other.
We do notice the new lights of this prototype, which look exceptionally bright even when compared to the pure white background of the snowy Arctic Circle. The headlamps themselves appear to be larger than the current units, but it is impossible to tell in the absence of another object to bring more perspective when comparing sizes of objects in a photograph.
Sources close to the German company reveal that the next 5 Series could drop as much as 220 pounds (100 kg) thanks to this platform. The range of engines available for the next 5 Series will include four-cylinder, six-cylinder, and eight-cylinder units.
Concerning transmissions, the six-speed manual is here to stay with the 5 Series, while the eight-speed automatic unit will remain an option for some engines and standard on others. The upcoming M5 will continue to have its dedicated M DCT transmission, which will probably still have seven forward gears.
The weight loss brought on the new platform will allow BMW to implement more hybrid options in the 5 Series range. We expect those hybrids to be of the plug-in variety and to provide a generous electric range. There’s no official information regarding these versions so far, but BMW might even make the 5 Series Touring a plug-in hybrid, if their marketing department considers that customer demand would support it.
The prototype you can see in the images provided by our friends at SB-Medien is not a hybrid. It is also heavily camouflaged, so there’s not too much of it visible. BMW has not brought a significant change in the general silhouette of the 5 Series Touring, as this body style does not allow drastic differences in shape from one model to the other.
We do notice the new lights of this prototype, which look exceptionally bright even when compared to the pure white background of the snowy Arctic Circle. The headlamps themselves appear to be larger than the current units, but it is impossible to tell in the absence of another object to bring more perspective when comparing sizes of objects in a photograph.
Google News