The all-new BMW 5 Series stands at the crossroads of the times

For a long time, among the three major luxury brands of BBA, Mercedes-Benz represents luxury, Audi represents technology, and BMW focuses on sporty labels. However, as the competition in the automobile market becomes more and more fierce, BBAs are also involuting each other.

Take the new Mercedes-Benz E-class, which was launched not long ago, not only becomes more luxurious from the inside out, but also further aligns with intelligence.

In order to catch up, the new BMW 5 Series also ushered in the launch on January 25, the new car provides a fuel version and a pure electric version to choose from, just look at the fuel version of the price range of 439,900-525,900 yuan, and the previous generation of models are not much different, and the new car in terms of product power will bring us what kind of surprises?

When the all-new BMW 5 Series was released overseas, it was criticized by domestic netizens, and the most controversial thing was the design of the new car.

Although BMW has always taken sports as its own label, when it comes to the level of medium and large cars, consumers are more concerned about face, and to put it bluntly, no matter how it is designed, it needs to be centered on a calm atmosphere.

The exterior of the new BMW 5 Series feels a bit off track, such as the narrowing of the headlights, which reduces the visual width, the elimination of the through waistline on the sides, and the replacement of semi-hidden door handles, which looks slightly cheaper. Although these details are more youthful and fashionable than the previous generation model, they always feel that they lack the momentum that a medium and large executive sedan should have.

This point has to admire the Mercedes-Benz next door, know how to grasp the psychology of domestic consumers, know that everyone likes Mercedes-Benz Logo, simply fill the front grille with a three-pronged star directly on the sports version, and even the taillight group uses a three-pronged star light source, which interprets what is called buying a Mercedes-Benz standard to send a car.

Fortunately, the body size of the new BMW 5 Series has increased, and the length, width and height of the long-axis version of the model have reached 5175/1900/1520mm respectively, and the wheelbase is still 3105mm, which is a certain advantage compared to Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Audi A6L, which can be regarded as saving some points.

In the car, the new BMW 5 Series also did not give everyone too many surprises, the name is the same interior as the BMW 7 Series, but the design of the dual screen is not uncommon at the moment, Hyundai Sonata, Volkswagen Lingdu L, Chery Arrizo 8 and other models can be seen, somewhat copycat style.

It is reasonable for the BMW 3 Series to adopt such an interior design, but it is not consistent with the identity of the BMW 5 Series and BMW 7 Series, which will give people a sense of psychological gap, which can be confirmed from the sales of the BMW 7 Series. It can only be said that the interior of the new car is indeed a bit unsatisfactory, and many consumers must choose Mercedes-Benz E-Class or Audi A6L because of this.

In addition to these visible changes to the exterior and interior, the new BMW 5 Series has also made some adjustments in other aspects.

The all-new BMW 5 Series debuts a pure electric version of the i5, which is also the second domestic pure electric sedan after the BMW i3. As domestic new energy models account for an increasing proportion of the entire auto market, even a strong luxury brand like BMW has to adapt to the development of the times.

In 2023, BMW delivered a total of 99,972 BEVs, accounting for 12.1% of the BMW Group's sales, a year-on-year increase of more than 138%, indicating that electrification will be the general trend of the BMW Group in the future.

As for the petrol version of the BMW 5 Series, it is still equipped with a 2.0T high/low power engine, but after adding a 48-volt mild hybrid system, the power and torque have been increased to a certain extent. However, there is one thing to say, the 48-volt mild hybrid system, as a product of the "test-oriented education" in the automobile market, although it may have a lost effect on improving fuel economy, but it also invisibly increases the failure rate in the later stage, and I personally feel that the gains outweigh the losses.

At the level of the BMW 5 Series, consumers not only value face, but also the intrinsic ride comfort is also very important. For this reason, the rear seats of the new car have been lengthened and thickened, and for the first time, comfortable soft pillows have been customized for the front seats, and the exclusive logo of Chinese characters "five" has been added to the seat backs.

The most interesting thing about the new BMW 5 Series is the 31-inch 8K floating giant screen in the rear, which is also the exclusive configuration of the domestic version. However, this configuration can only be optional on the top model, taking the 530Li premium type (guide price 525,900 yuan) as an example, the optional price is as high as 33,800 yuan. Originally, there were not many consumers who bought the top model, and they also needed to spend money on options, so this configuration was basically negligible for everyone.

In terms of intelligent driving, which has been promoted by major manufacturers, the all-new BMW 5 Series is equipped with the third-generation BMW Intelligent Driving System, which adds an automatic lane change function with gaze confirmation. According to the official statement, the function can be in the speed range of 60km/h - 180km/h on high-speed and closed roads, through the tracking of the driver's eyes and head movements, when the conditions for lane change are met, the driver only needs to look at the rearview mirror, to achieve lane change.

According to the data released by the China Passenger Car Association, the retail sales of the domestic narrow passenger car market will reach 21.703 million units in 2023, of which 7.74 million new energy vehicles will be sold, compared with 5.674 million units in 2022.

It is undeniable that under the general trend of electrification, the market share of new energy vehicles is increasing year by year, but from the perspective of the entire passenger car market, fuel vehicles are still the main sales force.

In addition, in 2023, the domestic sales of cars with a starting price of 300,000 yuan and above will reach 993,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 4.6%. I have to say that there are still a lot of rich people, judging from this data alone, the market prospects for medium and large luxury brands represented by "56E" are still very impressive in the next few years.

In the past 2023, the BMW 5 Series ranked third in the sales list of medium and large fuel cars with a retail sales volume of 136745 units, behind the Audi A6L (181812 units) and Mercedes-Benz E-Class (143546 units).

The all-new Mercedes-Benz E-class has been launched, with a price range of 449,000-529,800 yuan and the new BMW 5 Series fuel version, but the former is better in terms of luxury and intelligence.

Although the Audi A6L has not yet been replaced, the exterior and interior of this car are still not outdated at the moment. In addition, the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class and the new BMW 5 Series basically had no discounts in the end market at the beginning of their launch, and the Audi A6L originally had the largest discount among the three models, so it will be quite advantageous in terms of price.

This will create a situation: those who are not bad for money, and those who pursue face and luxury will be more willing to choose the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, while those who are limited in budget and pursue cost-effectiveness, the Audi A6L will be more attractive to them. The BMW 5 Series, which is in between, has become more awkward.

Not only that, the new BMW 5 Series also needs to compete with its own brand new energy models such as ZEEKR 001, AVATR 12, and NIO ET7. Although the BMW i5 was launched, it was based on the previous BMW i3 and relied on substantial discounts to barely stabilize sales, so whether it is the fuel version of the BMW 5 Series or the pure electric version of the BMW i5, if you want to occupy a place in the medium and large car market, you need to be more "ruthless" to yourself later.

As early as 2003, the fifth-generation BMW 5 Series was introduced into China, which started the car's journey in China and has now become one of the pillars of the BMW brand's sales. In 2023, the BMW Group delivered a total of 824932 BMW and MINI cars in the Chinese market, while the BMW 5 Series retailed 136745 units, accounting for 16.6% of the entire BMW Group's sales.

On the all-new BMW 5 Series, we can see that the BMW Group attaches great importance to the Chinese market and has added a lot of exclusive features for domestic consumers. Aside from the exterior and interior, the intelligence and ride comfort have indeed improved a lot compared with the previous generation model, and the pure electric version of the BMW i5 has also been launched for the first time.

For BMW itself, it may have given great sincerity, but from the perspective of domestic consumers, these intelligent configurations have been widely used in our own brand models, and the new BMW 5 Series can only barely make up for the shortcomings this time.

It is undeniable that the BMW 5 Series, as one of the "troikas" in the mid-to-large car market of German luxury brands, has been in a state of unworrying sales for many years. But now the pressure is also very great, not only to compete with Mercedes-Benz E-class, Audi A6L and other traditional luxury brand fuel vehicles, but also to face the challenge of our own brand new energy models, the new car can rely on, perhaps or BMW's brand influence, but I don't know how long this kind of brand halo can last without worrying about selling.