As with most luxury brands, BMW is electrifying its lineup. It started with the BMW iX, then came the i4, and now there's a BMW i5 coming in 2023. BMW's sales chief Peter Nota recently confirmed with Autocar that the new electric 5 Series will officially arrive by the end of the year.
“With the launch of the BMW i5 later this year, we are taking another important step on the road to electrifying our model lineup," Nota said.
That's the first official confirmation of the BMW i5 for 2023. Much like the BMW i4 and 4 Series Gran Coupe, the i5 will be sold alongside a normal internal combustion-powered 5 Series. The 5 Series will have gas, diesel, and plug-in hybrid powertrains, but the i5 will be entirely electric. According to Autocar, there are likely to be two different models, the i5 eDrive40 (single-motor, rear-wheel drive, 335 horsepower) and the i5 M50 (dual-motor, all-wheel drive, 536 horsepower).
It's also worth noting that the BMW i5 won't be part of the upcoming "Neue Klasse" (New Class) platform, meant for electric cars. That new EV platform won't be rolled out until 2025, which is also when the first electric BMW M car will arrive, according to Nota. Neue Klasse-based cars will be what BMW calls its third phase of electrification and will help the brand become a mostly electrified brand by the end of the decade. The i5 is the end of BMW's second phase and will be the last BMW EV not built on the Neue Klasse platform.
There's also going to be a plug-in hybrid BMW M5 that launches after the i5. It will reportedly have a twin-turbo V8 paired with an electric motor to make upward of 750 horsepower, similar to the powertrain in the BMW XM. However, if BMW switches M cars to EVs by 2025, the next M5 could be the last gas-powered M car ever.
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