UK M5 Imports and South Africa Production (archive)

For what it's worth: I have a January 2000 copy of "BMW Car," a UK magazine. This issue contains a nice article on the E28 M5. The author states, "...only 2145 M5s were produced, as well as a further 96 cars which were sent to South Africa in component form to be assembled there." Also, "...only 177 cars were imported to the UK,..."

More late comments, this time from the UK - your information is very detailed and interesting on E28 M5 production numbers. I was curious to see the total of 177 UK cars. The figure most often quoted in the UK motor magazines is 187 but I have no idea where this number comes from. I have also seen "177" quoted in UK magazines. I have in my posession a letter from BMW (GB) which states there were 154 cars delivered to GB....which I believe to be incorrect. My own car (WBSDC920101679113)seems to have been built late '86 or very early in 1987(the pre-delivery inspection was completed at the Motorsport factory on 28 January 1987)and this is corroborated by the late '86 date stamps on some components such as the seat belts. My car was new to the Isle of Man but is to GB specification. Technically it would not count as a GB-delivered car (it was "imported" into GB in 1993) so this is a possible source of variation in figures. I can't imagine 10 M5's being supplied to the IoM but if some cars were also delivered to the Republic of Ireland that might conceivably account for another 9 in the RHD VIN series that would not be counted as GB/UK. Hope this makes some sense! Are you able to advise on the VIN series for the South African cars please?

Thanks....

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