BMW Drops the 'i' from Its V8 X5: Meet the New X5 M60

BMW just gave the world its first real look at the next-generation V8 X5, and along with it, a name change that signals where the brand is heading. A photo posted to BMW Group’s Facebook page shows a fifth-generation X5 rolling off the line at Spartanburg in Dravit Grey Metallic.

The tailgate badge reads M60, plain as day. No 'i' at the end. That’s a departure from the outgoing X5 M60i, and it’s not a mistake. BMW has been quietly dropping the 'i' from its gas-burning models, as it did with the X3 M50 earlier this year. The 'i' once stood for fuel injection, but now it’s reserved for the electric lineup, i4, i5, i7, iX.

On a combustion car, it’s gone.

So far. BMW has officially named four versions of the new X5: the 40, 40d, the iX5 60, and the X5 M60e plug-in hybrid. The V8 model was left unnamed until this photo surfaced. The M60 badge confirms the pattern: the old M60i becomes the M60, pure and simple. The car in the image also wears BMW’s Shadowline trim, which swaps chrome for gloss black and has long been shorthand for M Performance and M Sport models.

Combined with the Black Sapphire paint, the look is unmistakably production-ready. This isn’t a test mule or a spy shot. It’s a car that’s close enough to sale that BMW is showing it on the assembly line.

When can you get one? Not this fall. The initial launch of the new X5, the 40, 40 xDrive, 50e xDrive, and the electric iX5 60 xDrive, kicks off in August. The V8 M60 arrives later, likely in 2027, after the M60e hybrid. That hybrid borrows the M760e’s turbocharged inline-six and electric motor for 603 horsepower, but it’s 650 pounds heavier than the outgoing M60i and a couple tenths slower to 62 mph.

BMW has been clear: the M60e is not a V8 replacement. 4-liter S68 from the current M60i, good for 523 hp and 553 lb-ft, is expected to carry over. Whether it gets a power bump remains unconfirmed, but given BMW’s history of nudging output up with each generation, don’t bet against it.

The V8 won’t be sold everywhere, Europe leans toward the hybrid, while North America and other markets with looser emissions rules get the eight-cylinder car. The photo was first spotted by Bimmerpost forum member SCA.