This invention provides a vehicle motion control method and a vehicle motion control apparatus capable of improving the behavior stability of a vehicle. According to the vehicle motion control method, vehicle steering characteristic is determined based on a behavior amount differentiated value obtained by differentiating (S203) a slip angle differential value which is a behavior amount of the vehicle which occurs around a z-axis in the vertical direction with respect to the vehicle body (S205, S209). Consequently, because the phase of the slip angle differential value is progressed, the transition tendency of the steering characteristic, that is, which the vehicle motion condition is moved to over-steer or under-steer, can be obtained early. Therefore, the starting timing of the steering control or drive power control of the vehicle can be accelerated thereby improving the behavior stability of the vehicle.