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It has Taken a Generation Change but BMW has put Money Where its Mouth is
 

- Girish Karkera

No, I am not making any reference to our government’s ‘demonitisation’ programme but what this does is make people stand up and take notice. Six years ago, BMW did that when it made the 5-series go softer in a bid to be ‘more mainstream’ in the vast expanse of luxury sedans that now extended beyond core Europe. Asia to be specific. The subtle mid-life update only made matters worse as the 5-series now stood as a distant relative of the machines that play with phrases like “ultimate driving machine” and “sheer driving pleasure”.

The 5-series is an important cog in the BMW juggernaut. One of the longest-selling cars to come out of Munich, it is also one of the most popular. Second only to the smaller and more affordable 3-series in terms of sheer numbers sold globally, the 5 even climbs to the top spot in certain countries, like India.

For us, this is the third-generation change. While the story began in 1972 with the E12 5-series (and the likes of the 528 pictured on these pages), India did not see the official sale of the 5-series until the fifth-generation E60 model – infamous for its designers’ departure from the BMW way - arrived on the scene.