What you see here are the latest spy shots of one of the biggest vehicular enigmas in some time, BMW's upcoming RFK/V5/F5 -- take your pick of monikers, nothing's been confirmed as of yet. Early rumors suggested that it would be Munich's answer to the Mercedes-Benz R-Class, but the two-row nature of the beast, its sloping rear roofline, and the R-Class' emergence as an answer to a question nobody asked all point to another direction.
The heavy camouflage on this mule makes it hard to determine the exact body style. It shouldn't be a crossover -- that ground has already been covered by the automaker's new X6 -- but the ride height looks to be higher than a traditional BMW sedan. It may be a liftback or yet another take on the four-door coupe craze, with an outside possibility that it's a near-crossover along the lines of the Audi allroad or Subaru Forester.
The mystery will no doubt be solved in the coming months on the auto show circuit, possibly as a pre-production "concept" that BMW seems to enjoy debuting. Whatever it is, it likely won't be coming until 2009 as a 2010 model at the earliest. You can be assured though that BMW will bill it as yet another segment-busting vehicle in a market that continues to be sliced and diced every which way.
We'll continue to be hot on the trail of BMW's latest vehicle as it emerges from its camouflaged cocoon.