More Than One In Five F90 BMW M5s Wore Black Sapphire, As Many As Every Individual Color Combined
by Horatiu Boeriu · BMWBLOGArticle Summary
- Marina Bay Blue (4,911), Donington Grey (4,028) and Alpine White (3,550) follow Black Sapphire in the F90 color rankings.
- The US took 12,541 F90 M5s, 38 percent of production and more than the next five countries combined.
- BMW built 20,190 pre-LCI cars and 12,917 LCI cars, a count that includes the 1,132 M5 CS sedans.
Black Sapphire Metallic is the most popular color on the F90 BMW M5 by a wide margin. MDataWorks, which compiles BMW M production data, counts 7,051 F90s in the black metallic, or 21 percent of the 33,107 cars built between January 2016 and June 2023. That is almost exactly as many as every BMW Individual color on the F90 combined, and 2,140 more than Marina Bay Blue, the blue BMW used to launch the car.
The 10 Colors That Covered 78 Percent Of All F90 M5s
MDataWorks found 180 different paints across the F90 run, but 25,888 cars, or 78 percent, used just 10 of them. The second most popular color was Marina Bay Blue Metallic (the launch color for the F90 M5), followed by Donington Grey Metallic (the launch color for the F90 M5 Competition). Not surprisingly, Alpine White came in fourth.
- Black Sapphire Metallic: 7,051
- Marina Bay Blue Metallic: 4,911
- Donington Grey Metallic: 4,028
- Alpine White III: 3,550
- Singapore Grey Metallic: 2,196
- Brands Hatch Grey Metallic: 1,490
- Bluestone Metallic: 762
- Tanzanite Blue II Metallic: 710
- Azurite Black Metallic: 617
- Frozen Deep Green Metallic: 573
The top five are all no-cost colors from the original F90 palette. Snapper Rocks Blue is the only no-cost launch color missing from the top 10. Frozen Deep Green is a special case. MDataWorks’ earlier M5 CS breakdown put 570 of the 1,132 CS sedans in the matte green, which leaves only three regular F90s in it. Brands Hatch Grey, the CS’s standard paint, also owes 286 of its 1,490 cars to the CS.
Where Did BMW Send All 33,107 F90 M5s?
The US took 12,541 cars, or 38 percent of production. That is more than Germany (4,608), the UK (3,478), Canada (1,249), China (1,212) and South Korea (1,067) combined. Japan (1,024), Switzerland (900), Russia (846) and Poland (661) round out the top 10, and 95 countries took delivery of at least one new F90.
By region, North America accounted for 13,867 cars (42 percent), the rest of the left-hand-drive world for 13,249 (40 percent) and right-hand-drive markets for 5,991 (18 percent).
BMW built 20,190 F90s before the LCI (Life Cycle Impulse, BMW’s term for a mid-cycle refresh) and 12,917 after it, a 61/39 split. The LCI count includes the 1,132 CS sedans. For context, the F10 M5 that came before it reached roughly 20,000 units between 2011 and 2016.
Why Did So Many F90 M5 Buyers Choose Black?
Cost explains part of it. Black Sapphire added nothing to the sticker, while BMW quoted at the time thousands of dollars for a selection of Individual finishes. The rest comes down to what the car was. The F90 was the first all-wheel-drive M5, a 600-hp sedan that hit 60 mph in 3.2 seconds, and dark paint plays up the sleeper act better than a bright blue does. M5POST owners argued about it when the car was new, with some saying black hid the F90’s body lines and others that it made the car look meaner. The order books suggest the second camp won.
Black Sapphire carried over to the G90 M5, and it’s on the preliminary paint list reported for the 2028 M5 LCI, alongside Marina Bay Blue. If the F90 is any guide, Marina Bay Blue will get the attention and Black Sapphire will get the orders.
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