Hmm. I never considered my old 2014 M235i an M2. I never even considered it an M car. But BMWCCA and BMW Corporate both consider it an M car.
They can count it that way but I will never believe their numbers. Maybe it is me but I consider M car to be quite different than M Performance cars and I have owned both.
Probably the most serious confusion was with my M Sport 318ti. It had M stickers all over it. No way did it compare to an M3. (I did trade it in for an E46 M3
)