Mary Kay has begun rolling out BMW 320i sedans to its beauty product sales contractors, as the company seeks to diversify a brand image that has relied primarily on pink Cadillacs for more than four decades.

The entry-level luxury BMWs will be available to independent sales consultants who meet certain qualifiers.

"When you think of BMW you think of sophistication, luxury, safety and class but overall, you think of performance," said Sara Friedman, Mary Kay's vice president of U.S. marketing. "These traits align beautifully with Mary Kay. By adding the BMW 320i to the Mary Kay Career Car program, we are providing a new kind of elegance and style to the top-performing Independent Beauty Consultants, while inspiring them to achieve new goals in their Mary Kay businesses."

Mary Kay unveiled the BMW sedans at its annual leadership conference in New Orleans earlier this month. The BMWs will be replacing Ford Mustangs added in 2011 under a lease program.

The Dallas-based Mary Kay, founded in 1963, has relied on the pink Cadillac since 1969. The company now operates a diverse fleet of 6,032 vehicles that include 1,300 pink Cadillac vehicles such as the CTS and SRX; 1,627 Chevrolet Equinox SUVs; 1,426 Chevrolet Cruze compact cars; 1,137 Chevrolet Malibu sedans; 356 Ford Mustangs; and 168 Toyota Camry sedans.

By Paul Clinton