BMW

BMW history

In 2016 BMW celebrated its 100th anniversary. BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke) considers the founding date of its legal predecessor, Bayerische Flugzeug Werke (7 March 1916) as the starting date.

With the takeover of car manufacturer Eisenach in 1928, BMW also became a car manufacturer. The first BMW was the Dixi, a derivative of the Austin Seven from that time. From 1933, BMW built its own models with a sporty six-cylinder engine. Especially with the 327 and 328, BMW acquired a sporty image.

After the war, BMW as a car manufacturer produced a large sedan and a sports car, both with a V8 engine. Not a material with which the car manufacturer prospered in the post-war years. The license from the Italian ISO to build a kind of scooter, the BMW-Isetta, just kept BMW going. In the early 1960s, the turnaround came with the ‘Neue Klasse’ 1500 and derivative sporty sedans with rear-wheel drive.

In 1994 BMW took over the ever ailing Rover. From that acquisition, it has only kept the Mini brand. The takeover of Rolls-Royce and Bentley also failed in a sense and BMW eventually only secured the brand rights of the car manufacturer Rolls-Royce. In 2011, BMW launched the BMW i label, with the fully electrically powered city car i3 and the also fully electrically powered sports car i8.

BMW explains its logo, a stylized propeller, from its origins as an aircraft manufacturer, but the colors blue and white also refer to the colors of the German state of Bavaria, where BMW is based.