BMW Didn’t Expect the New M5 to Get Body-Shamed – Motor1

Chime in with article commenting.The new M5 has let itself go compared to its predecessor, but some would argue it was a necessary evil. There’s still a big V-8 engine under the hood, only this time, it’s supplemented by an electric motor built into the gearbox. Turning the super sedan into a plug-in hybrid has added a lot of fat, but it allowed BMW to future-proof the car and meet increasingly stringent emissions regulations. However, social media hasn’t been kind to the “G90.”Although the seventh-generation M5 debuted back in June 2024, people still won’t stop criticizing the car for its weight. As a refresher, the sport sedan comes in at 5,390 pounds in sedan guise and an even higher 5,530 pounds as a more practical wagon. M boss Frank van Meel tells Australian magazine Carsales that BMW made a mistake by disclosing the curb weight long before people could drive the car.The M boss admits BMW’s performance division “underestimated” how people on Facebook, Instagram, and other social networks obsessed over the M5’s shockingly high curb weight. But the Bavarian luxury brand has learned its lesson, and pledges not to reveal weight figures for future electrified performance cars until closer to market launch:”What I personally have learned [launching M5] is the way social media works. Next time; and you see it with other competitors they’ve learned a lot; every competitor that’s currently launching hybridized sports cars does not reveal the weight until the test drive, so that’s the key learning.”The man in charge of BMW M explains that from the moment the car’s weight was disclosed, it was the “only number people started talking about.” However, Frank van Meel is happy to report that reactions started to gradually change when more and more people got behind the wheel of the new M5. Orders for the sports sedan are “skyrocketing,” and production has already been increased twice to keep up with strong demand. Not only that, but the AMG E63 rival is already sold out until the middle of the year in some of the model’s largest markets.Circling back to the weight issue, the M chief told German specialty blog Bimmer Today in October 2024 that the M5 was “designed in such a way that you don’t actually feel it [the weight].” During the same interview, he admitted that all the criticism regarding the car’s weight “annoyed him a little bit” and that people shouldn’t judge the vehicle by “relying on data in an Excel table.” Fair point, I’d say. He also defended going down the plug-in hybrid route: “We put a lot of passion in it and took a conscious decision.”In an earlier interview with Top Gear, van Meel said the PHEV setup with the electric motor and 18.6-kWh battery pack added 881 pounds to the M5’s weight. A fully electric variant was also considered, but the idea was abandoned. The engineers realized the EV wouldn’t have delivered sustained performance and the long driving range a typical M5 buyer wants. A smaller inline-six engine was also ruled out since that would’ve made the front section too long.But the car’s hefty curb weight shouldn’t have been such a big surprise in the first place. After all, the 550e,  another plug-in hybrid 5 Series Sedan with all-wheel drive, weighed 4,894 pounds with a smaller 3.0-liter, six-cylinder engine. Assuming the next Audi RS6 and AMG E63 will be electrified, which seems likely, the competitors from Ingolstadt and Affalterbach will also be extremely heavy, especially if those two retain their V-8 engines. It’s just how the cookie crumbles in 2025 when trying to save large-displacement engines and pass emissions regulations.Sedan Or Wagon?
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Source: https://www.motor1.com/news/750702/bmw-surprised-social-media-calls-m5-fat/