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Summary
- The M5 Touring to come to Canada, despite initial denials from the carmaker.
- BMW Canada opened a registration form to gauge consumer interest in the M5 Touring.
- The potential return of the M5 Touring would mirror a past instance where BMW Canada outplayed BMW USA, driven by profitability.
Last month, we got wind that BMW could bring the much-anticipated M5 Touring stateside. While still officially not confirmed by the carmaker, all indications point to it actually happening. Such an event would signal the first ever M5 wagon to be sold on this side of the pond.
But although our source came from a Canadian automotive media outlet who apparently got confirmation from BMW’s head of Design, Domagoj Dukec – information was apparently later debunked by that same designer – the carmaker denied any claims that it would sell the car north of the border. When we reached out to Jean-François Taylor, BMW Canada’s media representative on the matter, we were met with the expected “we do not have any information to share about this vehicle.” The rule of thumb in this industry, is that carmakers do not discuss future products.
That being said, it turns out the car could hit the Canadian market after all. Earlier this week, BMW Canada’s website opened up a “Leave Your Mark” registration form to gauge the interest of consumers for the M5 Touring, further indicating that BMW could in fact ship its supercar-rivaling wagon on this continent.
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419 Drivers Are Waiting
The dedicated website is pretty transparent about its intentions to gauge demand for the M5 Touring. As I write this, it even shows the number of drivers “waiting”. In this case, 419 people have apparently filled out the form to manifest their desire to see the car hit BMW Canada showrooms.
There’s even a full historical breakdown of the M5 Touring itself, starting with a recap of the very first generation, all the way to the last model to have been sold outside our market, the V10-powered E61, which went out of production in 2010.
In other words, BMW Canada is making a huge deal out of a car that, apparently, has no information to share about. The simple fact that it has put this much effort, time and, presumably, budget, into promoting the M5’s five-door offering and ask consumers if they want it is a pretty strong hint that we are, in fact, going to receive that car.
BMW Canada’s Second Plucinsky Moment?
Mind you, it’s not the first time BMW outplayed BMW USA in bringing something special out of Germany. During the 1990s, Tom Plucinsky, then BMW Canada’s product planning manager (now working for BMW USA), found a loophole that would allow Canada to import the European-spec E36 M3.
Of course, the current situation is very different from during Plucinsky’s era. According to Jean-François Taylor, BMW Canada’s current intentions of bringing the M5 Touring are purely business related, contrary to the E36 which had to do with compliance and homologation rules happening in the US and Canada back then.
The real question BMW Canada wants an answer to is the following: will bringing the car into the country be profitable? So, if you’re seriously interested in buying an M5 Touring, you know what you need to do.
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