As a general rule, people in the U.S. don’t buy station wagons. They may be more practical and look better than the sedan alternative, but there are only so many professors in New England, and most people would rather drive a crossover. So when BMW announced plans to sell the M5 Touring in the U.S., we were pleasantly surprised but far from optimistic. Weighing in at roughly 5,500 pounds, the new plug-in-hybrid M5 was already controversial enough, and BMW planned to offer an even harder-to-sell version, as well? Turns out, we were the fools because the M5 Touring is actually more popular than the sedan, BMWBlog reports.
That claim comes directly from Frank van Meel, the head of BMW’s M division, too. After previously reporting that global demand for the M5 had been higher than expected, BMWBlog recently spoke with van Meel and learned that, when it came to the wagon version, Europe isn’t actually the M5’s biggest market. In fact, while the global split is reportedly pretty equal, the U.S. has ordered more M5 Tourings, while Europe prefers the sedan.
“Well, actually in Europe, still more sedan than Touring,” van Meel told BMWBlog. “U.S. is the other way around. We currently have a higher demand in the US for the Touring than for the sedan.”
Yes, you read that right. U.S. customers aren’t just buying more BMW M5 Tourings than you’d expect. They’re buying more of them than they are sedans. Maybe today’s the day to buy a lottery ticket. Or get right with as many gods as possible, since the world is clearly about to end.
A trend or a fluke?
Of course, the big question here is what exactly this means. Did Americans suddenly change their minds about wagons, or is it only wealthy customers? Or are we specifically talking about wealthy BMW buyers? The M5 Touring does start north of $120,000, after all, meaning you have to make serious money to afford one. A household income of $250,000 puts you in the top 10% of income earners in the U.S., and odds are, the only households putting an M5 Touring in their garage bring in closer to double that.
Personally, I think BMWBlog nailed it with its suggestion that a big part of the demand likely has to do with the fact that up until now, you couldn’t get an M5 Touring in the U.S. After years of looking at Europe with envy, U.S. customers can finally get their hands on an honest-to-goodness M5 wagon, and that’s bound to drive demand. If you have the money, who would want to taste the forbidden fruit? Sure, it’s a ridiculously heavy hybrid, but that heavy hybrid is also ridiculously quick, and people with M5 Touring money can also afford to put smaller, lighter, sportier cars in their garages for when they want to have fun in the twisties.
Based purely on the M5 Touring’s popularity in the U.S., it definitely seems like it would be worth it for BMW to offer the next M3 Touring here, but I do worry that buyers at the $80,000-ish price point won’t be as interested in a wagon as those who can afford to spend more than $120,000. Then again, if BMW can find a way to justify selling an M3 Touring with a manual transmission, maybe the allure of a three-pedal M3 wagon would be enough to draw the buyers in. Either way, we’d still get an M3 Touring for a year or two before it got canceled, and the M5 Touring’s popularity definitely makes it seem worth the risk.
And you know what they say, BMW. There’s only one way to find out.
H/T: Motor1
