Why The BMW 5 Series Won The German Car Of The Year Award

15 Nov 2024 by Michael Taylor · Forbes

BMW's Board Member for Customer, Brands and Sales, Jochen Goller (center), accepted the German Car ... [+] of the Year award for his company's 5 Series premium car today. He was given the award by GCOTY founders Jens Meiners (left) and Bernd Hitzemann (right). Photo: Daniel Kraus.Daniel Kraus

Bavarian automaker BMW has stood up where it counted, saving Germany’s blushes by winning the 2024 German Car of the Year (GCOTY) award.

After taking out the GCOTY prize for Premium cars (from €35,001 to €70,000), the 5 Series lined up against fellow category winners like Citroen’s C3 (Compact winner), the Cadillac Lyriq (Luxury), the Porsche 911 GTS (Performance) and the Audi Q6 e-tron (New Energy) for the overall trophy.

In the end, though, GCOTY founder Jens Meiners said the judges overwhelmingly voted in favour of the 5 Series because its flexibility allowed it to be so many things to so many buyers.

With both sedan and wagon body styles, the 5 Series was available with full battery electric power as the i5, with plug-in hybrid power and with both gasoline and diesel power, giving it an incredibly diverse footprint.

The BMW 5 Series toppled other category winners, like the Citroen C3 (Compact), the Cadillac Lyric ... [+] (Luxury), the Porsche 911 GTS (Performance) and the Audi Q6 e-tron (New Energy) to win the overall GCOTY title. Photo: GCOTY.GCOTY

While the 5 Series is available in the U.S. as a 530i, a 540i, a 550i and the electric i5, it has a much broader range in Europe, where it is also available with 2.0-liter gasoline and diesel engines as well.

While it didn’t take the outright GCOTY result, U.S. premium brand Cadillac gave the GCOTY judges their biggest shock by toppling BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz on their home ground with the Lyriq to win the Luxury award.

“We are back in Europe with Cadillac and with full electric drive, so this award has a big meaning for us,” Cadillac Europe President and Managing Director Pere Brugal insisted.

“It shows we can bring the best of luxury, that we expect from Cadillac, and technology and then design as well.”