[marvinp]

Another reason M Performance cars shouldn't be considered true M cars is because M Performance cars are manufactured by BMW AG while M cars are manufactured by BMW M GmbH. It could just be semantics but it appears that it's a deliberate choice by BMW to have their cars have separate manufacturers.

Edit: By "manufactured" I mean what is listed as the manufacturer. I do realize that M cars nowadays are manufactured at the same plants as regular BMWs.