BMW Drops the X5’s Split Tailgate - Here’s Why, Straight From the Boss

BMW’s new X5 has lost a signature feature, and the executive who signed off on the change isn’t sugarcoating it. Philip Koehn, the automaker’s senior vice president of product line luxury class, sat down with reporters at the Spartanburg plant where the SUV is built and explained why the split tailgate had to go.

His answer: It only worked well for drivers built like him—nearly 6-foot-5. “If you have got long arms, like myself, split tailgate is a wonderful thing,” Koehn said. ” He admitted he’s in the 99th percentile for height, meaning the feature many owners loved was, in practice, a reach for most.

The design change wasn’t a simple swap. The new X5’s faster-sloping roofline lowered the tailgate opening, so BMW widened the aperture instead of keeping the two-piece setup. Koehn said the single opening is now easier to load. He also addressed why the rear wiper isn’t hidden under the spoiler like on a Range Rover.

That trick, he explained, requires a boxy roof with enough vertical drop from the spoiler to the glass. The X5’s sleeker roofline pulls the spoiler too close to the glass, meaning a hidden wiper would block the driver’s view. “It only works for rectangular shapes,” he said, pointing at the Range Rover as the example that can pull it off.

Third-row seating is also gone. Koehn said the take rate was in the single digits globally, with the UK as the only market that really wanted it. ” The old third row also wasn’t available on plug-in hybrids because the battery lives in that space, and with more electrified variants coming, that conflict wasn’t going away.

As for the new automatic doors, Koehn said the technology only recently caught up. Rear-facing radar sensitive enough to spot cyclists or kids approaching from behind didn’t exist when he worked on similar features at Rolls-Royce. “There are kids, and there are school runs, and there are all sorts of crazy situations where you really need to ensure that you don’t do the wrong thing,” he said.

The split tailgate may be the change that stings loudest on social media, but Koehn’s message is clear: Every decision had a reason.