South Africa was only ever allocated 71 units of the BMW 1 Series M Coupe, meaning the ownership experience was always going to be an exclusive one. In other parts of the world, however, people who woke up and realised what was good for them , could saunter down to their local dealer and order a shiney new 1 M Coupe. Sadly, not any more though: it’s too late.

According to Holland’s De Telegraaf newspaper, BMW has removed the car from its catalog in markets all around the globe, but will continue to produce the car in its Leipzig, Germany, factory until next June in order to fulfill all of the orders that it has received.

Still, BMW’s announcement doesn’t come as much of a surprise, as the German automaker never intended the car to become a volume seller and had pegged production at 2 452 units right from the start. With it limited numbers in each country an having been sol for just over 1 year, the BMW 1 M Coupe is likely to become something of a collectors item and already commands a premium price in the local used car market.

As a refresher, the BMW 1 Series M Coupe is powered by a 3.0-litre, inline 6-cylinder, twin-turbocharged engine making 250 kW and a maximum torque of 500 Nm. Mated to a 6-speed manual transmission, the BMW 1-Series M Coupe goes from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.9 seconds and has an electronically limited top speed of 250 km/h.

Most of the lucky few who managed to get behind the wheel of a 1 Series M Coupe, described it as a car that mixed race car-like agility with day-to-day usability. Some even went as far as claiming that it was a true heir to the original E30 M3. Will there ever be a successor? We certainly hope so, but BMW has not mentioned whether or not it will offer a M-tuned version of the new 1-Series. If it does, it has plenty of time to develop it as the new 1 Coupe has not yet been released. In the meantime we suggest you watch this video.