Paris show: BMW 5 Series a tech tease

BMW has teased the seventh-generation 5 Series that is set for an official debut at the Paris motor show later this month, revealing its rear and side exterior styling and hinting at new tail-light technology.

The video release first shows a duo of illuminated D-shaped tail-light bezels, with secondary horizontal strips inside and below the tail-light ‘ring’ then briefly illuminating from the side of the car inwards. It could be indicative of a system that would trigger during heavy braking and could double as side indicators.

A side shot of the first new 5 Series in five years, codenamed G30, also shows that it has retained a familiar silhouette without flared wheelarches but keeping mostly slab-sided doors with a gentle lower crease.

It is the first styling glimpse of the new model constructed on a new platform that debuted in the larger 7 Series limousine last year, although the smaller sedan sibling is not expected to feature the same extensive carbon-fibre construction, dubbed Carbon Core by BMW – one of a number of details leaked via multiple global first drives of camouflaged 5 Series prototypes.

Entirely new independent suspension mostly made out of aluminium is reported to have taken advantage of a claimed increase in torsional rigidity for the new model. Teamed with a fully electro-mechanical steering system and lighter wiring looms, kerb weight is said to fall by up to 100kg depending on the model.

The current 5 Series weighs between 1610kg and 1925kg, although a similar breed of 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo and 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo engine options in petrol and diesel are all but confirmed.

It is a possibility that BMW’s 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol engine could make the journey into the 5 Series as it recently did with the 3 Series, although the 318i tips the scales at 1475kg.

A replacement for the ActiveHybrid5 will likely follow in time, potentially in plug-in hybrid form for the first time on a 5 Series.

BMW’s last sample video, which spruiked a new smartphone-linked Remote 3D View function set to debut in the new 5 Series, also briefly showed a document with ‘540i’ model designation marked on it. A 535i would likely become the 540i, while the 528i would see the return of the 530i nameplate.

The Munich-based car-maker is also tipped to not only introduce technologies from the 7 Series into the 5 Series – such as gesture controls to allow motion detection changes to climate and other controls – but also offer greater technology in the newer car as Mercedes-Benz has done with E-Class following S-Class.

BMW has spruiked the new 5 Series as “the most innovative business sedan in the class” in text accompanying the teaser video, supported by several other marketing claims such as “realise innovations that know no borders” that all further indicate a technology focus with the new model.