The 2028 BMW M5 facelift’s exterior went through more back-and-forth than the finished car will let on. BMW built early prototypes of the updated G90 M5 with a full Neue Klasse front end in 2025, then reverted to a more conservative design later that same year.
The project itself never slipped. According to sources, both exterior designs went through customer research, and the Neue Klasse-leaning proposal didn’t land the way BMW’s design team hoped. Reaction from focus groups and from the enthusiast base, which BMW tracks with a team dedicated to scoping sentiment on social media, reportedly pushed leadership toward the more conservative route. That’s the version now testing at the Nurburgring, and it’s the version headed to production for both the G90 sedan and the G99 Touring, with a manufacturing date rumored for July 2027.
A front End That Pulls Back From Neue Klasse
Early prototypes from 2025 reportedly went full Neue Klasse up front, the same slim, graphic grille treatment BMW has been showing on the iX3 and its recent concept cars. But now the facelifted M5 is expected to land on new headlights paired with a kidney grille that stays closer to today’s proportions than to the Neue Klasse look, with slimmer LED graphics out back as the main visual update.
This isn’t BMW backing away from Neue Klasse as a brand direction. It’s BMW deciding the 5 Series facelift and M5, cars with their own established face, didn’t need to inherit that language wholesale a year or two after launch. The exterior argument is the more interesting one because the interior argument was reportedly already settled.
The Interior Is Where The Budget Actually Went
Sources describe this as one of the most expensive facelifts BMW has ever done on a 5 Series or M5, and the bulk of that cost is sitting inside the car, not outside it. The cabin is being replaced wholesale with Neue Klasse-derived architecture: a panoramic display spanning the dash, a new central touchscreen, and BMW’s iDrive X software running the show.
The rotary iDrive controller, the one piece of switchgear that has survived two decades of BMW interiors basically unchanged, is going away on this car too. That’s been expected for a while given where BMW’s software and hardware are heading, but seeing it confirmed for a mid-cycle update on the current M5, rather than held for the next full generation, says something about how aggressively BMW wants iDrive X rolled out. The steering wheel is also reportedly getting new switchgear positioned around 4 and 8 o’clock, which tracks with BMW shifting more functions off the console and onto the wheel itself.
It also means M5 buyers get a car that’s recognizably the one BMW has been selling since the G90 M5 launched, not a transitional design wedged between two eras. Whether that’s the right call depends on how much anyone wanted BMW to commit to Neue Klasse everywhere at once.
Under The Hood, Nobody’s Rocking The Boat
The S68 V8 isn’t expected to make any more power than it does now, and the battery architecture isn’t expected to change either. BMW rarely touches the mechanical bits this deep into a model’s cycle, and Gen5 isn’t going anywhere yet. The one thread worth watching is BMW’s relationship with Rimac, which could mean some of that battery cell tech trickles down and nudges electric range up slightly. That’s speculation rather than a confirmed change.
New paint, Same Seasonal Reshuffle
Expect a new round of exterior colors. Given how much BMW has leaned into grey, greens and browns lately, new shades in that direction wouldn’t be a surprise. Nothing revolutionary here, just the usual LCI color refresh.
A July 2027 production date puts this update roughly midway through the G90’s run, buying both the sedan and the G99 Touring a few more years before an all-new M5 shows up. The details point to something other than a typical LCI: BMW moving the Neue Klasse cabin into market early, while keeping the exterior change small enough that current M5 owners won’t feel like they bought the wrong car.
The 2028 BMW M5 facelift, in other words, is a bigger story on the inside than the outside.
First published by https://www.bmwblog.com
Source: Autos – Bmw Blog
