Kicking off the weekend activities for the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance car show, BMW brought over its all-new M5 super sedan to the U.S. for the first time.
Unveiled at Laguna Seca raceway alongside an original first-generation M5 from the mid-1980s, the 2012 model shows just how much the vaunted vehicle has evolved over the last 28 years. Where the early car made use of a punchy 256-horsepower inline six-cylinder engine, the latest M5 has a twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 that produces 560 roaring horses, more than twice as much as the original.
Putting that power to the pavement is an advanced seven-speed automatic transmission, allowing the two-ton sedan to hit 60 mph in just over four seconds on its way to either 155 mph, or 190 mph with the M Driver’s Package. At the moment, BMW has not mentioned whether a manual transmission will be available as it has been in the past, but we wouldn’t put it past BMW to provide one for the U.S. market.
Even though it’s nearly a production-ready vehicle, the 2012 BMW M5 will be located this weekend at Pebble Beach’s concept cars gallery. The officially production version of the fifth-generation M5 will be unveiled at next month’s Frankfurt Motor Show.
Source: Motor Trend
