New Electric BMW i5 LEAKS ahead of official debut on 24 May

Ahead of the debut of the new BMW 5 Series on 24 May, we have what looks like an official leaked photo of the new electric BMW i5.

Back in March, BMW started the tease for the new 5 Series, confirming its wide range of powerplants – ICE, Hybrid, BHEV and BEV – and telling us it will debut in October.

In fact, it seems the plan is to start production of the new 5 Series in October, and the actual reveal is planned for 24 May.

Ahead of that debut, we have what looks like the first official photo of the electric BMW i5 (above and below), and it thankfully eschews the monster grille of some of BMW’s more recent models in favour of a far more restrained evolutionary design of the current 5 Series.

The photo appears to show the entry-level BMW i5 Drive 40 in M Sport trim, with noticeable changes from the current model including flush door handles, repositioned shoulder line and new headlights. You can also expect a bit of a redesign at the back.

BMW has already confirmed that the i5 e-Drive 40 will come with 335bhp and be RWD, whilst the four-wheel drive M60 xDrive is expected to pack up to 600bhp from its twin-motor setup, with range of up to 360 miles in the base model and fair bit less in the M60 version.

The official debut of the new 5 Series next week is likely to include all saloon variants and all powertrains, but the new 5 Series Touring won’t arrive until 2024.