The global slowdown in the auto sector in 2008 had no affect on BMW's M car division that reported a 50 percent sales increase over 2007. Overall, BMW sold 24,186 'M' vehicles, making 2008 the second best year in the sport division's 30-year-old history after 2002 when it shipped 26,776 units. The driving force behind the M division's success was of course the new BMW M3, which in its first full year of production managed to sell 18,000 units worldwide.
The most successful model in the range was the M3 Coupe with 10,571 units followed by the M3 Sedan (3 ,253 units), M3 Convertible (4,169 units), M5 Sedan and Touring (2,465 units), M6 Convertible (1,158 units), M6 Coupe (1,102 units), Z4 M Coupe (739 units) and Z4 M Roadster (699 units).
Once again, the United States was the M division's most prominent market with 10,663 vehicles sold in 2008. In Germany, BMW recorded sales of 2,777 "M" vehicles which represents a 37 percent increase over 2007. By far the strongest growth was reported in Canada, where sales increased by almost 130 percent to 1,114 vehicles.
