Russia is a very intersting country. There is a big divide between the rich and the poor. Although the majority of the population lives at what would be considered in the US below the poverty level, there are more millioners per capita in Moscow and St.Petersburg than anywhere in the world, probably with the exception of some cities in Middle East. A lot of those who make a lot of cash like to show off their riches. A lot of those people who buy M cars in Russia can't care less about their cars performance on track or BMW Motorosport tradition, what they do care about is the fact that the M-products are the top of the line. Wealthy people in the US on the other hand prefer to maintain low profile. Again, there are exceptions. I just met an american dude a few days ago here in LA, he bought the newest M5 a couple of months ago. On my question about how he likes the car, he said that he loves it because it has Facebook on his iDrive and his navigation maps were upgraded to a higher resolution remotly over the air...WTF? That would be the typical M-customer in Russia.
From this stand point, opening M-specific dealership in Russia makes perfect sense.
I know what I'm talking about as I am Russian myself and moved to the States when I was 22. I should probably mention that I didn't pay for my bimmers at American tax payer's expense.
I second the comment about Russian ladies
