BMW will start the meeting of the long-wheelbase 5 Series in India someday in early 2024. Following within the steps of the equally stretched 3 Series Gran Limo, the brand new 5 will tackle its primary rival, the long-wheelbase E-Class, and hope to beat it at its personal recreation.

The transfer isn’t surprising; long-wheelbase sedans exert a robust pull in India. This has been confirmed repeatedly. Mercedes’ stretched E-Class dominates its section, the three Series Gran Limo is transferring steadily up the charts, and look elsewhere and long-wheelbase cars like Skoda’s Superb (principally a long-wheelbase Octavia) have discovered favour with Indian luxurious car patrons too. Is it any surprise? Most luxurious cars in India are chauffeur-driven and with house owners predominantly sitting within the again, they admire the added legroom that solely a stretched wheelbase can present. In addition, you get rear seats with extra recline, and producers pack the rear of the car with added options and goodies.

Switching to a long-wheelbase model, nevertheless, isn’t a easy step. The current-gen 5 Series has a long-wheelbase model in China solely – a market like our personal in relation to being chauffeur-driven. So, for the new-gen 5, aside from logistical challenges of mixing powertrains from totally different components of the world (there’s no diesel in China), there’s the thorny subject of conversion from left-hand drive to right-hand drive and re-certification of what successfully is a brand new car. But BMW has completed it earlier than with the three Series Gran Limo and so the 5 shouldn’t pose as a lot of a problem.

BMW 5 Series LWB: platform, inside

The rear could have extra legroom and a reclined backrest.

The new 5 Series, often called the G60, would be the final sedan BMW will construct on its CLAR platform. The car we’ll get in India would be the right-hand drive, long-wheelbase model based mostly on the Chinese car. Known because the G68, (the brand new 5 is the G60), it’s anticipated to get a 130mm to 135mm longer wheelbase, an extended roof and longer rear doorways. The rear doorways are more likely to supply higher ingress and egress when in comparison with the stretched Mercedes E-Class. Unlike the stretched E, which makes use of a comparatively quick rear door (with no quarter glass), the long-wheelbase 5 Series has a door that stretches all the way in which again to the ‘C’ pillar.

The new sprint will look just like that of the brand new 7 Series.

Apart from the larger legroom, additionally anticipate a seat that reclines and is temperature managed. Massaging seats are anticipated to be provided as an possibility, and a big panoramic roof is a given, however what BMW can also be seemingly to offer are LED lights inserted into the glass panel above. Twin screens for rear-seat passengers are additionally seemingly. What BMW ought to specify is a 7 Series-like TV that folds down from the sunroof. There aren’t any plans but, however are you able to think about the impact the display screen would have? The long-wheelbase car is anticipated to return suspended by a daily coil spring suspension that’s raised sufficiently to assist take care of our roads and the addition of the longer wheelbase.

BMW 5 Series LWB: powertrain, exterior particulars

Engines are more likely to be hybridised variations of the three.0-litre petrol straight-six and BMW’s venerable 3.0 diesel. The petrol is more likely to be comparable in spec to the one which powers the X7 however not in the identical state of tune. The roughly 325hp engine ought to get a 12hp and 200Nm electrical enhance and the three.0 diesel is more likely to have round 282hp and a really wholesome 650Nm of torque.

Design-wise, spy photographs reveal the brand new 5 could have a sharper-looking front-end and a extra conventional kidney grille. No outsized grille is anticipated right here. The design additionally seems to draw back from BMW’s new break up headlamp association, as seen on the new X7 and new 7 Series, and the extra conventional set-up may work higher for the 5. Also anticipated on the brand new 5 is an all-electric model – the i5 – that BMW India may, in concept, pencil in for the long run.

That BMW will shake issues up with the brand new LWB 5 Series is a given. It will deliver a whole lot of pleasure and a focus to the market and can present a viable various to the posh car patrons who’re fixated on the strengths of a long-wheelbase sedan. BMW’s 5 Series has by no means been a robust vendor in India, however this might change the whole lot.

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5 new BMWs to launch in January 2023