BMW has previewed the mid-cycle update of its executive saloon, with updated 6 Series GT also to be unveiled
26 May 2020

BMW is due to pull the covers off its facelifted 5 Series overnight, with a digital stream going live at 0700 tomorrow morning (27 May). 

First posted on BMW's official Korean Instagram account, a darkened image shows a disguised 5 Series wearing the same redesigned front-end look as previously spotted prototypes.

Captioned 'the 5 and the 6', the image along with further social media posts reveals the 6 Series Gran Turismo will also be similarly updated and shown at the same time. 

Previous spy shots of test mules preview the updated model in both saloon and Touring variants. Like the saloon, the estate appears to gain only subtle tweaks to the front and rear, but we can see that hybrid versions will be told apart by a bespoke front bumper design, with a horizontal vane spanning the width of the lower air intake. 

Previous reports that BMW would significantly increase the size of the executive car's trademark kidney grille appear to be incorrect, as it looks to have grown more subtly than it did on the facelifted 7 Series.

The move is part of a broader strategy at BMW that aims to give each model its own individual appearance, with the latest 3 Series sporting a different front-end look.

Further design changes include redesigned headlights and a more heavily structured front bumper that incorporates newly designed air vents, including vertical air curtain ducts at the outer edges.

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Changes at the rear are likely to be less significant, although the plastic wrap adorning the spied prototypes hints at styling revisions to the tail-lights, rear bumper, tailpipes and area around the numberplate.

Inside, the 5 Series is expected to receive new digital instrument graphics as well as a revised central display housing the infotainment functions.

Today’s 5 Series will get BMW’s latest iDrive 7.0 operating system as part of a running change from this month onwards, suggesting the 2020 model will carry this on until the introduction of an iDrive 7.5 system in the eighth-generation 5 Series model due in 2023.  

The prototype displayed here is propelled by a plug-in hybrid powertrain, shown by the mandatory identification on its front doors as well as the flap for the charging port integrated into the front-left wing.

The current G30 5 Series is already sold with a plug-in hybrid set-up in the 530e. This has a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and an electric motor developing a combined 248bhp and providing an electric-only driving range of up to 40 miles.

As part of a push to take its plug-in hybrid drivelines into the performance car class, BMW is said to be planning a new 545e model running the same set-up as the 745e. This would use a more powerful turbocharged 3.0-litre six-cylinder engine and an electric motor making a combined 388bhp and yielding an electric-only range of up to 36 miles.

In further developments, BMW plans to equip all petrol engines with a particulate filter, while the diesels will receive new selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology, to allow them to meet incoming EU emissions regulations, according to Munich sources.

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Comments
18

TS7

23 July 2019

..."a more prominent kidney grille". AKA, how to uglify a once handsome car.

23 July 2019
TS7 wrote:

..."a more prominent kidney grille". AKA, how to uglify a once handsome car.

I didn't even read the article  as the title " a bold new look " told me all I needed to know.

 

jer

23 July 2019

Legacy get worse by each new model. But people keep buying em so maybe its just me. Just a thought given how exterior design is pretty average thesr days shouldnt the IDrive drsigners and coders be appearing at shows and in magazine pages, They'd need a wardrobe makeover though!

23 July 2019

It’s not just you... it’s me as well. I’ve been faithful to BMW for 19 years, but someone decided they don’t want my business anymore.

23 July 2019
Jinx59 wrote:

It’s not just you... it’s me as well. I’ve been faithful to BMW for 19 years, but someone decided they don’t want my business anymore.

 

Your wife/partner/boyfriend?

2 April 2020
jer wrote:

Legacy get worse by each new model. But people keep buying em so maybe its just me. Just a thought given how exterior design is pretty average thesr days shouldnt the IDrive drsigners and coders be appearing at shows and in magazine pages, They'd need a wardrobe makeover though!

It a neat evolution, it'll be solid, well screwed together, dependable, it's a five series!

19 May 2020

Intresting Peter you state well screwed together and dependable not sure which data you rely on but as a car company BMW are not high in the reliabilty or build especially electronics departments , in most customer staisfaction surveys currently available . They are certainly in the stack em high and sell em on PCP,s filling all the parking spaces at Lidl  common comes to mind

19 May 2020

Intresting Peter you state well screwed together and dependable not sure which data you rely on but as a car company BMW are not high in the reliabilty or build especially electronics departments , in most customer staisfaction surveys currently available . They are certainly in the stack em high and sell em on PCP,s filling all the parking spaces at Lidl  common comes to mind

23 July 2019

 This doesn’t look vastly different from before, it looks a little taller, more headroom inside I guess, the Boot opening looks like it’s going to be awkward to fit large stuff in like Suitcases for instance, but I’m sure it’ll drive just as well as it’s competitors........

23 July 2019
Peter Cavellini wrote:

 This doesn’t look vastly different from before, it looks a little taller, more headroom inside I guess, the Boot opening looks like it’s going to be awkward to fit large stuff in like Suitcases for instance, but I’m sure it’ll drive just as well as it’s competitors........

This is a facelift, moving the roof line would be significant change to the press plant and glass.

The costs of doing this during a mid model life cycle facelift would be excessive, akin to those of developing an estate version of a car.

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