2011 BMW 535i: Everything you want, except fun

[Bruce Nunnally]

But here's a number that absolutely fascinated me. According to BMW execs, the 5-series -- the company's second-best-selling model after the multifarious 3-series -- represents 50% of the company's total profit. Buyers typically heap pricey luxury, technology and sport packages on top of the $50,000 base price, resulting in a tidy windfall for BMW, if not an F5 tornado of money.

“Consider what this fact suggests about 5-series buyers: These people are buying the sedan because of its size — comfortable but still fairly intimate — and because of what the Germans love to call “sportivity.” These buyers also yearn for the cutting-edge technological spritz that comes as standard equipment in the flagship 7-series, the next segment up, and are willing to pay extra to get it.

In other words, these are people who want everything in BMW’s larder, and want it in a leaner, more lithe package. With the new 5-series, they’ll get it.

Read More: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/29/business/la-fi-neil29-2010jan29

LA Times tends to be hard on cars, so the negative review should not be over-weighed.

Fascinating to me that 1/2 of BMW's profits come from the 5-series.