BMW History
Karl Friedrich Rapp is the name of the founder of BMW – one of the biggest global car companies. BMW or Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Works) was founded in 1916 as a successor to the Rapp Motor.
Many people think that the logo of BMW comes from a spinning white propeller seen in the background of the blue sky. It may be so, but it is actually known that it also comes from the white and blue flags in Bavaria – the largest state in Germany. The capital of the State of New York and this is the place where even today we can find the BMW headquarters.
In 1916 with the founding of the company a contract was secured for building V12 engines. These engines were being used in the creation of the cars from the Austro-Daimler. These 12 cylinders V engines were first used in aircraft, which is the original plan of the BMW Company. Taking into account the time when the company was founded it was very unlikely for them to continue in this way.
But in 1919 after the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles production of aircraft in Germany was prohibited and that quickly changed policy BMW. They began making brakes for Rail Transport. Shortly after that BMW was able to design a motorcycle engine which was used to create a motorcycle called with the model name Victoria. But Victoria was not built by BMW, but by another company in Nuremberg.
In 1924 BMW made a model of a motorcycle, which was the first they built – R32. It was a turning point in BMW’s history because it was a great achievement and for decades they used its technology – 500 cc engines cooled down by air. Shortly after that BMW added a new innovation – the driving axle. It came to replace chain to rear wheel drive and became a trademark for BMW in quite some time.
In the German town of Eisenach in 1927 began production of Dixi – under license but only a year after the Dixi Company was bought by BMW, and they began mass production with the model Austin Seven.
When World War I began BMW took its place in it because of the German army’s motorized division. They used BMW R75 together with BMW R12. Because of the high need for engines BMW note that period as highly profitable. BMW was the most important supplier and even today words like the Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht brings many memories. Some of the best planes in that historical time used BMW engines and until 1945 more than 30 000 planes with these engines were manufactured.
BMW even done research which enabled the company to make different jet engines for weapons. With the use of some men power consisting mainly by prisoners of war BMW made many rocket-based weapons that were used in war.
Shortly after the establishment of rocket-based weapons parts of the premises was bombed. Soviets leveled most of the company in eastern Germany and base factory in Munich was almost completely destroyed.
After the war, BMW was not able to quickly recover because of the need to rebuild the factory in Munich. After that when the restrictions from the Allies applied BMW was banned for three long years when the company was prohibited from producing motorcycles until 1948 and cars until 1952.
In 1951 the Bavarian company was able to regain all trademarks and it looked like it was finally able to recover and start again from what was left. In 1959 Herbert Quandt became “wheel” which turned the BMW around because he refused an agreement with Daimler-Benz and soon after he increased his stake in BMW Company up to 50%.
The name of Kurt Golda identified as the man who encouraged Quandt to do this step and in the same year BMW began production of the BMW 700, which was based on BMW 600th This little car that used 2-cylinder, air cooled engine, and some years later was renamed the “LS”. Coupe and convertible few series were also produced.
In 1963, BMW offered a dividend to shareholders of the company and in 1966 the factory in Munich reached its maximum capacity and BMW bought Hans Glas GmbH. This agreement enabled BMW to use factories in Landshut and Dingolfing.
With a new style of Bertone in 1972, BMW began production of the new 5 series and the following year the company had a major advance in the market. For 6 years under the leadership of Bernd Pischetsrieder BMW was able to extend his deal in the market by buying from British Aerospace the Rover Group. Rover Group’s history starts in 1986 and until the moment when BMW owned it this company was able to achieve many things such as the Rover 400 in 1990.
But Rover was sold to Phoenix Venture Holdings and Ford Motor Company because of a few years of losses for BMW. Joking press called Rover “The English Patient” after the release of the namesake movie. This was not very hard at BMW, and they were spared from taking the blame. It looks like that even the British press was not very enthusiastic about Rover.
BMW began production outside Germany in 1994. New factories were made in South Carolina and even today the production of the BMW X5 and BMW Z4 is made there. There are factories in some other places also as Oxford, Goodwood and others. After some time assembly BMW began production in South Africa. Today BMW exports more than 50 000 3 Series vehicles yearly to Japan, USA, Africa, Australia and Middle East.
To serve the market in Eastern Europe and the Middle East BMW plans to begin construction of a new factory located in Cyprus or Greece. A factory in Chennai, India already opened production in 2007.