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I'm not convinced the M2 is a loss leader or a halo car engineered to cross-sell. I truly do think they critically misjudged the demand for the vehicle, likely based on M235 sales, which would seem to be a reasonable statistical data point, but it turns out people are cross-shopping the M2 against a much wider array of vehicles, and what the M235 almost got right the M2 gets very right.
You have to also consider the number of different models currently in production. There isn't a ton of tooling space and given the assumption that M2 buyers would be only a percentage of M235i potential buyers, sticking it at Leipzig seems like a reasonable logistical choice to limit factory spanning of 2er production. Once you factor that in, it additionally seems pretty logical to keep options down to maximize the setup you already have as well as not disturb existing production flow.
I honestly think top brass said, "Hey, this is a neat little car we made, but it is kinda out of the price range of 2er buyers, and if you're going to pony up, most people are probably going to want the M3/4. We do want to sell it, our engineers dig it, but lets not go crazy because we already don't sell that many M235s." And then they went full court press with the media, probably thinking that they had better sell what few cars they do make. Turns out the car has the surprise magic sauce, everyone loves it, and here we are. Dunno how much room they have to pivot on the logistical choice, so we'll see. But for year 1, I think that's where we're at.
Just my crazy opinion, of course.
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