- BMW is conducting the final winter tests of the season on the 2027 X5.
- The next combustion-powered X5 rides on an updated CLAR platform.
- It gets BMW’s Neue Klasse design tricks, including a shark-nose front.
What are the most recognizable design cues of a BMW? The Hofmeister kink in the rear pillar, maybe, and the dual kidney grilles, of course. But from the introduction of the original Neue Klasse sedans of the 1960s (and even earlier if you want to include the 1956 507 sports car) to the early 1990s there was another classic cue: the shark-nose front end.
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BMW switched things up in the 1990s and the X5, which debuted in 1999, arrived to late to feature a reverse-slant to its snout, or wide air intakes that bridged the gap between the kidneys and the headlights.
Related: Here’s What We Know About The Neue Klasse-Inspired 2027 BMW X5
By that point BMW was integrating the kidneys into hoods which plunged to the bumper line, and the slope of the grille area began to switch to a positive angle, having moved from negative in the 1970s to neutral the following decade.
But starting from the end of this year BMW is winding the clock both forward and back. Its new generation of EVs get advanced new platform, battery and motor technology named Neue Klasse after the 1960s cars that revolutionized the brand’s fortunes. And all models, regardless of power source, will gradually adopt a new design language that tips a hat to the look of BMW’s shark-nose classics.
The combustion X5 in these pictures is one of them. Expected to debut in 2026, it doesn’t benefit from the Neue Klasse platform that makes it debut in the smaller iX3 SUV this fall, instead relying on updated version of the current CLAR architecture, like the recently overhauled ICE-powered X3. But the Neue Klasse design language banishes sheet metal from the X5’s face for the first time.
Our best guide to how the X5 will look is last year’s Vision Neue Klasse X concept, which previews the 2027 iX3, but we’re expecting the 2027 combustion X5 that arrives a little later to borrow heavily from the same box of tricks. That means it’ll get a pair of slim but tall kidneys that plunge into the bumper below, just like the ones on the classic 2000CS coupe pictured below, plus visor-like plastic panels that extend outwards from the kidneys and morph into a pair of LED headlights.
Though the very first X5 seemed radical because we’d never seen BMW design on an SUV before, X5s since have been very conservative. Attractive, but definitely playing it safe. The 2027 model probably won’t ruffle any feathers with its ICE powertrain package, which will likely be similar to today’s. But that new nose, broad hips, squarer arches, a sportier slope to the rear window and a completely new interior with a full-width head-up display, plus an EV option for the first time, will give the X5 a much more youthful appeal.
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Images: Baldauf
Lead image inset: Mecum
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