Founded in 1916 Bayerische Motoren Werke, or BMW for short, is arguably the most famous German brand for Automobiles and Motorcycles. BMW had flirted with high performance models very early in its history, however in 1972 the M Division was created. Initially focusing on BMW's motorsport efforts, in 1978 the first 'M-Car' was born with the M1 supercar. Whilst the M1 was far from a success, it did pave the way for future M models to come.
The 1979 BMW M535i saw the start of what would define the M division into what it is today with the first M model of an existing 'normal' BMW model, this then lead to standalone models of both the 3 series and 5 series with the first M3 (E30) and M5 (E28). Fast forward to 2012 and BMW introduced a new line of 'M Performance' models, designed to bridge the gap between the normal and M lineup. The most notorious of these is of course the F series based M140i/M240i, allowing almost all the benefits of the 'full fat' M2, with none of the drawbacks.
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