BMWNA Marketing Chief Jack Pitney with the 2011 BMW 5-Series.
Bavarian sedan fans may rejoice at the news that the price is being cut a full $1,400 when the 2011 BMW 528i rolls into U.S. showrooms about two months from now.
Credit “competitive realities,” acknowledged a senior BMW executive in a conversation with TheDetroitBureau.com, with the most realistic factor being the sharp cuts that arch-rival Mercedes-Benz has enacted since launching an all-new E-Class last year.
The base price of the 2011 BMW 528i will come in at $44,500, with the midrange 535i to command $49,600, and the top-line 550i $59,700. Those figures cover reasonably well-equipped packages – and include a customer’s choice of either the Bavarian maker’s new 8-speed automatic or a 6-speed manual transmission.
The stick will be available on all three versions of the new and completely re-designed 2011 5-Series – though company officials acknowledged, at a Detroit luncheon, that they only expect a “take rate” of about 5% for the manual gearbox. All-wheel-drive will also be available, as an option, on all the new versions of the 5-Series.
The 2011 BMW 528i will see a $1,400 price cut, starting at just $44,000 when it reaches showrooms on June 19th.
The 2011 5-er is part of a major product update program that will virtually re-make the BMW line-up by 2012. Among other offerings still to come are a redesigned X3 – which will be built at the maker’s Spartanburg, South Carolina plant, the smaller X1 and an updated 6-Series.
The first 2011 BMW 5-Series should reach American showrooms by June 19.
As for future versions of the 5-Series, BMW showed off a prototype hybrid at the Geneva Motor Show, earlier this year. But no word on when a production version will reach the U.S.