Munich’s police presence was difficult to miss at this year’s IAA mobility. In addition to the thousands of officers that were stationed for the event in the entire city, a sharp-looking BMW i5 in full police paint on the street was spotted-another sign that the capital of Bavaria is constantly electrifying parts of its fleet while holding a long-term BMW partnership. Local reports hired the entire police operation with around 8,000 civil servants for this year’s Munich Auto Show, so
Munich and BMW: A decades of patrol partnership
Munich’s relationship with BMW patrol cars decreases seventy years. In the 1950s, the city’s officers with the stately BMW 501 and 502 – as “baroque angels” – began as some of the first modern “radio cars” in Europe, which drastically increased the visibility and the image of the police on Baveric roads. This era is still part of the local tradition, which is reminiscent of the radio call sign “Isar 12” and in period photos of green-painted 501s that serve the Munich districts.
BMW’s arm “Authority Vehicles” has only grown since. Over the years, the Bavarian and Munich police have provided 5-series touring (including an IDRIVE-integrated light and signal system more than a decade), a steady stream of 3-series wagons and-in younger time electriz pilots. In 2015, Munich officially accepted the BMW i3 patrol cars as a sustainable city unit, a step that promoted the electrical shift we see today. In 2020, Bayern added the latest G21 3 Series Touring (320d) to its fleet and underlined how the region is still based on BMW for daily patrol work.
The new face of the beat: BMW i5 on patrol
The i5, which was discovered during the IAA, corresponds to what BMW presented in Munich all year round: a growing selection of police-prepared EVS and hybrids, from IX1 and X3 crossovers to 5-series cars that are configured for the service. BMW used to organize an entire police fleet in 2025 that telegraphed in this direction. There is already a documented, fully marked i5 touring (G61), which is stationed in Munich and is equipped by special suppliers Haberl via the sedan, which can be seen during the show.
While Munich previously tested i3s with mixed results for the all -purpose patrol (range and packaging were restrictive factors a decade ago), the i5 is another animal: a larger, faster, long -term EV on a modern electrical architecture that fits better equipment, humans and layer patterns. It also integrates cleanly into the long-standing program of the BMW authenticity vehicle program, the electrical interfaces, freight solutions and lighting control introduced in the factory offers the parts of a police conversion that form or break the daily user-friendliness.
[Photos: quirin_schoen]
