Tuesday in Geneva, BMW will introduce the concept of another forecoming great driver’s car, an hybrid 5 series. We can expect it in dealerships sometimes next year, in 2012 at the latest, and once again, this is a luxury car.

The combustion engine is a twin-turbocharged inline 6. Thats is a pretty good thing as anybody who had the lucky opportunity to test drive the 535i can attest. But this is a car that costs more than $50,000. I’m talking about the non hybrid one. Si if you thought that BMW would launch an affordable hybrid, that is not going to be this car. Still there’s a progress since BMW 2 other hybrids are over $100,000.

Come to think of it, I realize that BMW will soon be a leader in hybrid technology. The german manufacturer has already 2 different hybrids on offer, the X6 ActiveHybrid and the 7 series ActiveHybrid, with this new one it will have 3 different hybrids! Only Toyota can better that.

Back to this concept, BMW has released few technical details. We know that the architecture is the same as the 7 series ActiveHybrid, the biggest difference being that the electric motor is more powerful. It makes 40 kW. This gives the car some ability to drive in a electric mode at low speeds. The transmission is the new 8-speed automatic from ZF, and as I’ve said before, the engine is a 6 instead of a V8.

Will BMW reveals full specs at Geneva? Actually, it would not be very useful. What we expect is the production version, and it’s not gonna come before late next year.