[///M TOWN]

Real ///M

& Quasi ///M's...

[Germanauto]

Originally Posted by ALPINA_DREAMS

Do they count the 328i's with fake M badging?

No but they count 340 and 440s with fake M badging out of the factory.

[AlexFL]

Originally Posted by Germanauto

No but they count 340 and 440s with fake M badging out of the factory.

Come on, dude. if the weak *** C43 is an AMG, 340 can be an M. M340i is a great, quick car btw.

[Germanauto]

Originally Posted by AlexFL

Come on, dude. if the weak *** C43 is an AMG, 340 can be an M. M340i is a great, quick car btw.

It's a quick car for sure and amazing at the limits.

The C43 AMG is even more shameless. And on Merc's SUVs their fake 53 and legit 63 models have no differences visually.

[AlexFL]

Originally Posted by Germanauto

It's a quick car for sure and amazing at the limits.

The C43 AMG is even more shameless. And on Merc's SUVs their fake 53 and legit 63 models have no differences visually.

I agree. At least Audi calls them S instead of RS.

[stein_325i]

Originally Posted by ALPINA_DREAMS

Do they count the 328i's with fake M badging?

Don't forget the 320i's. I swear I see more fake badges on these cars than anything.

[MachinesWithSouls]

Originally Posted by OG///M

Congrats I guess? Really shows at the end of the day what type of "enthusiasts" the majority of M buyers today have become.

"In future, the wishes of the M Community will be fulfilled by extraordinary diversity: Each variant with classic manual shift will be complemented by a Competition model featuring an 8-speed M Steptronic transmission with Drivelogic. Moreover, in the summer of 2021, the four-wheel drive system M xDrive will be added for the first time to the drive portfolio for the BMW M3 and the BMW M4."

Wishes of the M community was an 8 speed auto and AWD? Ok.

I totally get where you're coming from. BUT..

The M community wants each new generation to be faster than the last. We can all agree on that.

The F chassis cars were at the limit of control with 2-wheel drive when it came to launching. We can agree on that hopefully?

Therefore, all-wheel drive was inevitable. Hand-to-god, the F90 is the best overall M car I've ever driven, and that breaks just about my every classic M rule.

[dmk08]

Originally Posted by SoManyBlueCars

I totally get where you're coming from. BUT..

The M community wants each new generation to be faster than the last. We can all agree on that.

The F chassis cars were at the limit of control with 2-wheel drive when it came to launching. We can agree on that hopefully?

Therefore, all-wheel drive was inevitable. Hand-to-god, the F90 is the best overall M car I've ever driven, and that breaks just about my every classic M rule.

We also want them to look better than the last. Failing hard there.

I really disliked my drive in the F90. It was just so disconnected. Honestly driving these new ZF8 M AWD cars feels like playing Forza on my couch.

[RugbyBro]

Good old BMW ///Marketing

[OG///M]

Originally Posted by SoManyBlueCars

The M community wants each new generation to be faster than the last. We can all agree on that.

I think there's two M communities at play here. The poser centric that wants more power all the time which they barely use and shocking/alienating looks. Then the other side that want reasonable power, great handling and classy yet aggressive looks.

Originally Posted by SoManyBlueCars

The F chassis cars were at the limit of control with 2-wheel drive when it came to launching. We can agree on that hopefully?

The F cars were at the edge of RWD traction. So how about M focus on making the car lighter while having slight increase in hp/tq and then focus on making the handling/chassis weight balance even better? That is a much more attractive formula than adding a glob more power and add AWD.

Originally Posted by SoManyBlueCars

Therefore, all-wheel drive was inevitable. Hand-to-god, the F90 is the best overall M car I've ever driven, and that breaks just about my every classic M rule.

AWD is not inevitable, it's just the easy and mundane route.
I've also driven the F90 and along with most other people's review, it was more dead and muted comparing to the F10 which was already worse than the E60. Fast in a straight line sure, everything else, you wouldn't even know it's an M car.

If you think that is the best M car you've ever driven, I believe you and some of us have a very different idea of what an M car is supposed to be.

[PhatLyfe]

More lies.. management at it finest.. true M cars have 1 digit behind it like M3, etc not Any clown with a eBay or Craigslist account slaps ona phones M badge and now it's. M car.

[JustChris]

Originally Posted by Nomana

Did they include some models like M340 or not? since now they're considered as M cars

Oh they'll take the money, they'll take the sales figures but aside from the website this kind of thing is very 'Shhhhhhhh' don't mention the M lites.

There's a huge amount of those figures coming from:

M135i
M235i
M240i
M340i, M340d
M440i, M440d
M550i, M550d
M760i (I think we let this one slide. )
M850i

X2 M235i (Is this the worst M car of all time?)
X3 M40i, M40d
X4 M40i, M40d
X5 M50i, M50d
X6 M50i, M50d
X7 M50i, M50d

Though the 50d models were discontinued back in June.

[Ikester19]

Originally Posted by DanG

A fake high performance BMW. The M Performance BMWs have zero added horsepower.

Although not true M, the Mperformance lineup is built to be more performance oriented and do offer very decent hp numbers. Perception is that it's trying to be an M car but the reality is it's not - it's designed for a different purpose.

[Nahlem]

So the nail in the eye for many is, they are adding certain models that people don't consider true M cars to the M lineup of sales and that is bothering people because? Watering out the brand? Other people being able to call their cars M cars? While some other people won't feel unique anymore because more cars being called M cars? The engineering put in to the car? What the community "precives" as an M Car.

Would you call the M235i the first one that came along an M Car? Or is there a certain title needed to be earned to be called an M Car.

Because i remember when the M235i came the one before this FWD based version came. I Remember reading the amount of work being put in to it from the M division even though they didn't mobiles the whole M division and because of that it wasn't a true M Car?

Because if the car has received a lot of work from the M Division people but not the full engagement it is by then not or shouldn't be called M because, M didn't engage all of their staff to it, because they probably were back then already working on the regular M2 witch still had the N55 engine also i remember then it was called by some people not a "proper M" because it didn't share the S engine until the M2 Competition came.

Interesting how some people seem to completely identify with their M cars and at times you would think BMW's greatness has passed and the last true "M" was the E90/92/93 and everything after that is just a mock up of what used to be so great about M cars.


M-Sport (not M Cars) Only aesthetics in some cases brakes and suspension upgrades but nothing to the engine.
M-Performance (not M Cars) Because it didn't get the so called "full" treatment from M division.
M (True M Cars) The only true M cars because everyone else is faking it and buying cheap "M" knock offs?

[godzilla-1]

Why add these to the M sales figures and make out that the M business is a current success ???
Reality is that a M240 is just a 240 with a pointless M badge in front that makes you at least hope that it might be an "ultimate driving machine" unlike the rest of the range which are as far from ultimate driving machines as you can get.

BMW's are now as crap as mercedes and Audi and they managed it all by themselves.

[dmk08]

Originally Posted by Nahlem

So the nail in the eye for many is, they are adding certain models that people don't consider true M cars to the M lineup of sales and that is bothering people because? Watering out the brand? Other people being able to call their cars M cars? While some other people won't feel unique anymore because more cars being called M cars? The engineering put in to the car? What the community "precives" as an M Car.

Would you call the M235i the first one that came along an M Car? Or is there a certain title needed to be earned to be called an M Car.

Because i remember when the M235i came the one before this FWD based version came. I Remember reading the amount of work being put in to it from the M division even though they didn't mobiles the whole M division and because of that it wasn't a true M Car?

Because if the car has received a lot of work from the M Division people but not the full engagement it is by then not or shouldn't be called M because, M didn't engage all of their staff to it, because they probably were back then already working on the regular M2 witch still had the N55 engine also i remember then it was called by some people not a "proper M" because it didn't share the S engine until the M2 Competition came.

Interesting how some people seem to completely identify with their M cars and at times you would think BMW's greatness has passed and the last true "M" was the E90/92/93 and everything after that is just a mock up of what used to be so great about M cars.


M-Sport (not M Cars) Only aesthetics in some cases brakes and suspension upgrades but nothing to the engine.
M-Performance (not M Cars) Because it didn't get the so called "full" treatment from M division.
M (True M Cars) The only true M cars because everyone else is faking it and buying cheap "M" knock offs?

You get it!

[Boss330]

Perhaps it should be pointed out that the first ///M road car (apart from the M1) was the E12 M535i, then the E24 M635i CSi, then the E28 M535i before the E28 M5 in 1985...

The M Performance models are actually a return to the roots of BMW ///M road cars.

And even though BMW ///M, just like Porsche, do SUV's and large cars don't forget they also gives us cars like the M2 CS, M3/4 CS, M4 GTS. Without making money on the big cars it's possible we wouldn't have these enthusiast niche models.

[MadBimmeRad]

Special mention for the M2CS grabbed my attention

[NoSugar]

Laughable!

Maybe Toyota can put an M letter in front of the Camry badge (like BMW does with series cars) and claim that they now sell more M cars than BMW.

M Camry. Oh yeah, we're sporty AF.

[David70]

The articles title "Pathway to sustained growth..." - makes me laugh, the pathway is to just continue to put an "M" on more models. Not exactly a radical, brilliant plan. Would be interesting to put sales growth in two buckets "M" cars and non M cars. With more and more models becoming "M", I think the other group is dropping.

[mkoesel]

Originally Posted by David70

Would be interesting to put sales growth in two buckets "M" cars and non M cars. With more and more models becoming "M", I think the other group is dropping.

You're right. Naturally some of those sales are taking a bite out of the non-M vehicle total. But, from the numbers, we can see it's a relatively small bite. The BMW brand achieved 2,028,659 sales in 2020. If we reasonably assume that, let's say, 43,000 of the M vehicles sold in 2020 were of the "high-performance" variety (what most here would deem "real M" vehicles), that means about 5% of total sales have switched from non-M to M.

That's nothing to sneeze at, but it is not unreasonable to suggest that ongoing brand growth - especially with new high volume model lines being added recently like the X7 and 2 Series Gran Coupe - could make up for that, even as we acknowledge some small portion of that growth was actually to the M brand in the M235i and X7 M50i/M50d. Obviously that growth wasn't realized in 2020 due to industry-wide decline from the ongoing pandemic. But once sales rebound, I think we'll see the addition of new models cover the loss of the "performance" vehicle sales statistics to the M brand.

Now, if we were to look at just US figures (unfortunately BMW does not generally share M sales by region), I'm sure the M total is far more than the ~7% (or whatever the exact number is) that the numbers reveal it is worldwide. This is because BMW does not offer their vast lineup of lower-end models in the US due to our tastes for higher powered vs. more efficient transportation, especially in premium segments.

[JDUNITNOW]

LOL.... I guess I won't waste my time coming to a meet up with my fake M performance car knowing what you true M guys really think of me and what I can afford. SMH: