This past weekend, BMW hosted what the German firm recognises as the biggest M Festival in the world at Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit in Gauteng. Not only did the event see over 25 000 attendees but BMW also managed to rack up impressive sales over the weekend period.

BMW and South African car culture are intimately intertwined and for BMW’s M division, M-zansi (see what I did there) is a very important market and the annual M Fest is an equally important customer touch point for the brand.

This year, M Fest sold over 25 000 tickets and BMW revealed major M products to the public including the new BMW M2, BMW M4 CSL and the most post-powerful production BMW ever, the BMW XM. But that’s not all, recently-crowned DTM champion, Sheldon van der Linde, was also in attendance to meet local M fans.

Major attractions included the Red Bull skidpan where spinning Gusheshes entertained the crowds as well as the Red Bull drift brothers Johannes and Elias Hountondji who piloted their specially-prepared BMW M4 Competitions in spectacular fashion.

As far as ‘bums in seats’ go, roughly 8 500 fans enjoyed hot laps around Kyalami and interestingly, BMW’s M Fest pop-up dealership recorded more than 100 sales over the weekend, which is staggering considering many brands in South Africa don’t achieve those sales figures in an entire month!

Peter van Binsbergen commented: “BMW and BMW M are special to our customers and fans here in South Africa. One in five BMWs sold in South Africa bears an M badge, and this market is a consistent global top performer for BMW M High Performance and M Performance models.

“Here, we can show that M, as well as being the most powerful letter in the world, also stands for emotion. It is about more than the cars, and a showcase such as the BMW M Fest is the perfect platform to share this joy with our customers” he concludes.

Were you at BMW M Fest? Share your experiences with us!

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