In 2011, someone in BMW decided to import 418 of 1Ms into a country that almost nobody would like to drive a manual, manual car here represents a poor life, in most people’s mind if you drive a manual you are either a poor people or you are an Uber driver. But I really would like to say THANK YOU to this person in BMW and give him a BIG hug, he Fxxking saved my life.
Attachment 1592859
BMW now does not offer any MT models in their model range anymore, including 1 series and 3 series, they even imported the DCT M2 with a sunroof that you cannot choose remove.
Attachment 1592849
Even sports cars like Porsche does not offer manual box for their 718 and 911 series, sports cars selling in China is mostly not for people who desire driving pleasure but more like selling Gucci bags for people to show how rich they are.
Attachment 1592850
Right…Let return to the topic, the 1M
BMW eventually sold out 418 of these 1Ms with huge discount and decided not to import manual cars in China anymore (few M4s with manual box does came into China but almost nobody appreciated).
When the car was on sale in 2012, the MSRP was CNY 598000 that is around USD 95000
Now on the used market, they are around CNY 350000 to CNY 400000 which translate to USD 50000 - 58000
Attachment 1592851
Most of them are not tracked because there is not many circuits here in China, some of them were modified with no taste, some of them went into a wrong hand and get written off
Attachment 1592844
Attachment 1592845
Attachment 1592846
Attachment 1592847
I am a Chinese but I would say that Chinese people and their demand really is pushing the car manufactures making the automotive industry much much more boring than the old days, driving enthusiastic like me in China really have no cars to choose from, then what would be the point for working hard and make all that money?
This is my 1M, I drive it, track it and gymkhana with it, and I love it to bits, but it seems that BMW China has already forgot about this car, no recalls regarding TAKATA airbags are received yet, nor the potential CV joint failure recall.
Attachment 1592848
I am currently a vehicle dynamics engineer at ZF TRW, I went for an interview in BMW test center in Beijing in February for Subjective evaluation and chassis tuning but I failed because other candidates have over 10 years of experience , If I would have the chance to get into BMW, I denifately would try to make some changes for BMW in the future, especially if I could tune chassis for BMW cars.
Thanks for viewing
-A 1M owner from China