BMW M5 Concept: Official

BMW M5 Concept - now it's official

After photos of the 2012 BMW M5 leak, BMW reveals official photos of the BMW M5 Concept ahead of a reveal at Shanghai

It was a pretty safe bet that after we revealed the 2012 BMW M5 photos yesterday that BMW would react by revealing some official photos and a bit more information. And they have.

So, ahead of the Shanghai Motor Show, we get official photos of the BMW M5 Concept which is – to all intents and purposes – the finished car.

There will be a minor detail changes when BMW takes the 2012 M5 production model to the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, but there won’t be a lot that’s different.

What’s basically on offer – cosmetically – is a 2011 5-Series with the usual M bulges and bling in all the right places. Three gaping holes up front suck in air and cool the brakes from a very M-Style front apron; the back end gets an integrated diffuser; the boot gets a lip-spoiler; the sills seem to flex their presence a little more and there’s dark and sinister alloys on offer.

What’s going on inside the M5 is a mystery;BMW have completed blacked out the windows and we have no idea of what is on offer, and nor when we will.Maybe at Shanghai this month; maybe not until Frankfurt in September.

And there’s not a lot of news on what’s under the bonnet either. We know the M5 gets a brisker version of the 4.4 litre twin-turbo in the X5M sporting getting on for 600bhp which is sent to the back wheels through a seven-speed M double-clutch ‘box.

Beyond that, we’ll probably have to wait.