BMW pulls M5 from sale in South Africa, sticks with Competition model

A problem some people foresaw with the BMW Competition models was the possible cannibalization of the range. Even the Bavarian carmaker noticed that for some cars, offering both the M car and its Competition version would be redundant. That’s how the M2, for example, is now only available in Competition guise around the world. It seems like some other cars might follow suit.

BMW South Africa announced today that it is pulling the regular M5 from sale as it has become the exception to the M5 Competition rule. The Competition model is favored by the vast majority of customers as it is considered better value so the South African branch of the company decided to stick to it alone. Customers looking to buy an M5 in the African country will have only one choice starting this year.

“Following the M5 Competition’s introduction here late in 2018, customer interest and demand increasingly shifted away from the ‘standard’ M5 to a point where the demand for the M5 Competition far outstripped [that for] the standard version,” a spokesperson for BMW Group SA told CARmag. “Based on this (and a few additional factors) the decision was made to offer only the M5 Competition in our market,” the company added.

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That is a bold move and also a logical one. The question is: will this happen in other areas of the world as well? The big issue here is that the price bump from the ‘regular’ M5 to the Competition model is rather small and people who can afford these cars will be able to pay that as well.

In the U.S. that difference is almost $8,000 and in the grand scheme of things (the M5 starts at $102,700) it doesn’t make a huge difference. The Competition version is also better equipped so its appeal is easy to understand.

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