In motoring terms, BMW M GmbH endeavours to define the concept of a unique brand. M cars account for around one percent of all BMW Group products sold, yet the image of BMW M is so much greater. Even now, after three decades, driving a car boasting the M logo remains an exclusive experience.

The 300,000th M car, an Alpine White BMW M3 Coupé was handed over to a customer in Regensburg (Germany) recently. This East Bavarian town is also the location of the BMW plant in which the high-performance sports car is produced.

What began as an experimental division dedicated to motor sport has become one of the most admired in the premium automotive segment. In 1978, BMW was alone in forging the M brand (in the guise of BMW Motorsport GmbH), when the M1 super car was built.

The tremendous success of the BMW M GmbH began with this limited run production car, a mid-engine racer, featuring a straight six-cylinder power unit used in the newly founded ProCar series.

To comply with homologation requirements, a road-going version powered by a 204  kW engine was also built. This now famous super car was honoured with a one-off Homage car to celebrate its 30th anniversary, introduced to the world at this year’s Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2008 at Lake Como, Italy.

At its launch, the BMW M1 was Germany’s fastest series production sports car. In all, 445 BMW M1 cars were produced between 1978 and 1981.

In the years following, BMW firmed its M philosophy into becoming the home of high performance cars suitable for everyday driving, delivering punchy performance in a discretely enhanced body, but with power train and suspension technology directly inspired by motor racing.

The first BMW M5 came with a 210 kW straight six-cylinder engine. Thanks to its performance and understated silhouette, this sedan was extremely popular amongst business travellers.

Two years later, a further M model laid the foundation for a new vehicle category.

The BMW M3, 'ancestor' of the current fourth model generation, caused a stir both on the road and on the race track. It is the most successful touring car ever utilised in motor sports, also becoming a commercial success within a very short time, with sales of 17,000 examples.

To date, the M3 is still the biggest single model in the M line-up, accounting for 180,000 sales.

In the first 10 years of 'BMW M', they sold around 35,000 cars. In 1994, BMW M sold 10,000 cars in one year for the first time.

Since then, record sales figures have been achieved consistently, with sales of all BMW M GmbH models continuing to rise further with each new generation. Worldwide purchases of the new BMW M3 alone exceeded 4,000 in the first four months of the 2008 – even before the market launch of the BMW M3 Convertible and the new M double-clutch transmission with Drivelogic.

The USA is the most important market for BMW M cars and on the European continent the high performance sports cars are much coveted in the UK, Germany and Italy.

Currently BMW M offers nine individual models, all featuring high-revving engines.