BMW's M5 was a simple concept: a production 5 Series saloon re-developed
for high performance by the Motorsport division. The M5 was the car that
really initiated the legend of the M-cars from BMW. The letter M has
been applied to a high-performance BMW as early as 1978, but that year's
M1 was an exotic supercar. It had the right image, but the M1 was never
going to bring in major profits. The M5 was much simpler in concept. It
was and remains a production 5 Series saloon, redeveloped for ultra-high
performance. Manufacturing costs were minimized, allowing BMW to price
the car more attractively and still bring in healthy profits.
