BMW’s North American product team is actively exploring whether more Touring wagon models could make the jump to the U.S. market — and for the first time in a long time, the answer isn’t an automatic no. In an interview with BimmerLife, BMW North America’s VP of Product Management, Michael Keller, discussed the future of the brand’s U.S. lineup, and wagons came up as a genuine consideration rather than a wishful footnote.
For the community that has spent years gray-marketing 3 Series Tourings and hunting down E46 wagons on import lots, this is a meaningful shift in tone. BMW hasn’t made firm commitments, but the conversation is happening at the right level—and a few specific nameplates are already in the discussion.
Which Models Are Actually Being Discussed
2025 BMW 330e TouringBMW
The BimmerLife interview centers on BMW NA’s product planning process — specifically how the North American team builds a business case for models that aren’t automatically slated for the U.S. market. Wagons have historically failed that test, with BMW citing low demand projections and sedan preferences among American buyers.
What’s changed is the M5 Touring’s arrival. BMW brought the current G61 M5 Touring to the U.S. as a halo play, and by all accounts it validated the market. Keller pointed to that success as evidence that American buyers will pay for a performance wagon when the product is compelling enough. That opens the door—at least conceptually—for other Touring variants to follow. The 5 Series Touring and 3 Series Touring are the most logical candidates given existing production infrastructure, though no specific model has been formally greenlit for U.S. homologation.
Related
BMW Had To Change Production To Meet Crazy M5 Touring Demand
Americans do love wagons. Well, at least this one.
M Division Variants And The Performance Wagon Case
Close-up shot of 2025 BMW M5 Touring 4.4-liter PHEV V8 engineBMW
The M5 Touring precedent matters beyond just one model. It demonstrates that BMW’s M division is willing to support wagon variants for the U.S.—something that would have seemed unlikely even five years ago. The interview touches on the manual gearbox push as well, referencing the M3 CS Handschalter as another example of BMW NA making a targeted business case for a niche product and winning.
Whether M-badged Touring variants beyond the M5—like an M3 Touring, for instance—are realistically on the table is less clear from what’s been reported. The M3 Touring has been a persistent request from the U.S. enthusiast community, and BMW has acknowledged that demand exists. But no timeline or commitment has been confirmed. What the interview does suggest is that the internal framing has shifted: it’s no longer about whether there’s a wagon audience in America, but whether specific models can clear BMW’s internal volume and margin thresholds.
What This Means For The U.S. Wagon Market
2025 BMW M5 Touring rear 3/4 view drivingBMW
BMW sold its first wagon in America with the 1993 525i Touring—a car that Car & Driver tested from the archive and described as a genuine outlier for the era. The brand pulled back over the following decades as SUV demand swallowed the segment. The grey-market and import community filled the gap, and that community has only grown louder.
A formal expansion of the Touring lineup would eliminate the compliance and warranty headaches that come with gray-market imports, and it would bring factory warranty coverage and dealer support to buyers who currently have neither. No production timeline has been announced, and Keller was careful to frame this as an ongoing evaluation rather than a done deal. But the fact that the conversation is happening publicly, through an interview with a BMW-focused outlet, signals that the brand is at minimum testing the waters for how enthusiasts respond.
For now, the M5 Touring remains the only wagon BMW sells in the U.S.—but it may not be for much longer. Watch for BMW to continue floating these conversations ahead of any formal product announcements, likely timed to model-year planning cycles in the next one to two years.
Related
The 2025 BMW M3 CS Touring Is The Hot Long Roof M Car We Can’t Have
As America keeps incessantly obsessing over SUVs, Europe still gets the good stuff.
TopSpeed’s Take
1994 BMW E34 M5 Touring BMW USA
Few cars trigger automotive nostalgia quite like a BMW wagon. The gray-market cottage industry exists for a reason, and the M5 Touring’s U.S. success feels like the crack in the dam. If American buyers will spend M5 money on a wagon, the internal business case for a 5 Series or 3 Series Touring gets a lot easier to make. Nothing is confirmed, and BMW’s product planning cycles move slowly. But the fact that this conversation is happening publicly suggests the brand is deliberately gauging reaction. Fingers crossed.
Sources: BimmerLife, Motor1.com
