Now that the new 5 Series and i5 have been revealed, we have a much better understanding of what the next-gen G90 BMW M5 will look like. Obviously, we don’t know exactly what it will look like, as it will bring some changes to the standard 5 Series’s design. However, we now have a much better idea of what the M5’s specific design will be, as some new spy photos show off its aggressive nature. (We don’t own the spy photos but they can be seen here)

In these photos, the main visual takeaway is its front end. As far as we can see, the BMW M5 will have the same kidney grille setup as the standard 5er. While it might have a different insert, with different grille slats, the overall design looks to be the same. While we knew it would be similar, as BMW told us as much during the launch of the new 5 Series and i5, it’s good to get visual confirmation. So the BMW M5 will buck the trend of M cars having different grilles than their standard counterparts, which started with the M3 and continued onto the M2. Since the 5 Series grille is among the best of BMW’s recent attempts, this is good news.

We also get to see its front bumper in these photos, which shows off its front air intakes. They’re quite trapezoidal, beneath the kidney grilles, which looks pretty decent so far but we’ll have to see it in person, with light and shadows around the car, to determine whether it all works.

Photo by instagram.com/wilcoblok

Inside, the BMW M5 looks pretty similar to the 5 Series but that’s no surprise. M cars having similar interiors to the cars on which they’re based is fairly normal. So it gets the same iDrive 8.5 system, the same digital gauges (just with an M user interface), and a similar steering wheel. While it doesn’t look much sportier than the standard car, it’s still in development and this test mule is camouflaged inside, so you can’t see it all.

This new generation of BMW M5 is going to be interesting because it’s the first proper  M car to get a hybrid powertrain and it’s going to be absurdly fast. The BMW XM is technically the first hybrid M car but it’s about as much of an M car as I’m a body builder. Sure, it has an M badge in its name but it’s a three-ton luxury SUV with an emphasis on backseat riding. The M5 is a proper M car and we can’t wait to see what its hybrid power can do.

[Source: Motor1]