BMW News

Development of the G30 5 Series is far enough along that BMW is taking it to the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife for some handling and high-speed testing.

The camouflage remains heavy but we can start to see the real headlights and taillights peeking through. On this particular test car, they can’t disguise enough the access door on the left front fender, a certain sign of a plug-in hybrid version. We hope that with the plug-ins already announced for the X5 and imminent for the 3 Series, the plug-in hybrid version of the next-generation 5 Series will come sooner, rather than later in the model’s life cycle.

The new G11 7 Series is so close to a public reveal we can almost taste it. BMW can’t hide the fact that this development version of the G30 5 Series bears a strong family resemblance to the company’s luxury flagship. Some of the new technology on the upcoming 7 Series has to trickle down to the next 5, like carbon fiber components, LED lighting, and gesture control.

The U.S. market should see gasoline, diesel, and hybrid versions, with most if not all models available with xDrive.

Spy shots of models under development get us excited about the next-generation BMWs, so we have to remind ourselves that the launch of the new 5 Series won’t happen until sometime in 2016 with availability sometime after that.—Scott Blazey

[Photos courtesy of Bimmerpost.]