BMW M Division local sales up 50 per cent

BMW’s M Division is on track for a record year in Australia thanks largely to huge demand for the M2 and booming growth for the M3 sedan and M4 coupe models.

For the first three quarters of this year – from January to September – the brand managed to sell 1113 M cars, or 4.9 per cent of total BMW Australia sales. That’s one of the highest portions in the world and a staggering 47 per cent growth over last year’s 757-unit figure.

And that doesn’t include M Performance halfway-house models such as the M140i and M240i. Add those into the mix and the year-to-date figure soars to 1786 sales within a 22,547 total – for a 7.9 per cent share.

M Performance models are only up 7.0 per cent over the same period with 673 sales in 2016 versus 629 units in 2015.

In a full year back in 2012, the BMW 1M Coupe managed to tally 202 sales. Over quarters one to three this year the BMW M2 has managed 217 sales, with 62 alone in September.

Last year it took the M3 sedan a full year to reach 279 sales. With a quarter of the year still to go it hit 370 sales including 43 in September. That’s in addition to 242 sales for the M4 coupe and 50 for the M4 Convertible. In total, an average of 63 per month – but more is expected with the Competition Package models coming on stream.

Despite being in the final year of its lifecycle, the M5 is steady in 2016 with 39 sales year-to-date, while the X5 M (107) and X6 M (73) are each up 11.5 and 46.5 per cent to September.

For perspective, BMW’s M Division alone has outsold Alfa Romeo (632), Bentley (139), Citroen (809) and Infiniti (661) over the same period.