Australia still sits in the global top three for the share of BMW sales that M vehicles account for, with the performance badge making up nearly a quarter of the brand's local deliveries.
Australia has been marked as one of the top customers of M-badged vehicles in the world – rubbing shoulders with Canada and Switzerland – after 22.3 per cent of BMWs sold locally last year were a hotter M model of some form.
While the United States takes the cake on overall volume of M vehicles, the nearly one in four BMWs sold in Australia sporting some sort of M badge and performance upgrade helps our small market to continue receiving a broad array of performance options.
Of the 6021 M cars sold to Australians in 2025 – split between 'high-performance' models such as the M3, and 'M Performance' cars like the M340i – the top sellers were the M2 (738 units), X3 M50 (700 units), and the M3 sedan (544 units).
BMW M CEO Frank van Meel told media that Australia is an important market for the German performance subsidiary.
“Compared to the global 9.8 [per cent M market share], [22.3 per cent] is quite a high value… Australia is in the top three, of the biggest markets. So, for us, Australia is a very important market,” said van Meel.
Despite the market share staying similar over the past few years, an overall growth in BMW purchases has also seen an 11 per cent growth in M products when compared year on year, 2024 to 2025.
Van Meel says the reason Australia sits so high on the list is due to our passion for cars as a whole.
“My understanding is that in Australia, there are just a lot of car lovers, car girls, and car guys, and a lot of people actually are really into performance and high performance, and also know a lot about technology and driving dynamics. So it's a very emotional market about cars.”
“I also hear and feel every time I'm in Australia, that people actually really know what they're talking about, and they're really emotional about cars and racing.
“So I think it's a very special market. And that also resonates in our sales, because I think our cars suit quite well these desires for having fun with cars, being quick with cars, and being very technical and emotional.”
Other performance brands, such as Mercedes-AMG, Volkswagen's GTI and R cars, and Toyota Gazoo Racing, are often over-indexed in Australian sales figures.
Zane Dobie comes from a background of motorcycle journalism, working for notable titles such as Australian Motorcycle News Magazine, Just Bikes and BikeReview. Despite his fresh age, Zane brings a lifetime of racing and hands-on experience. His passion now resides on four wheels as an avid car collector, restorer, drift car pilot and weekend go-kart racer.
