1913 was established by Karl Rapp
the company
Rapp Motorenwerke with the intention to manufacture
V12 aircraft engines for the Austrian company Autro Daimler.
1916 March 17 "Rapp Motorenwerke" is renamed "Bayerische Motoren Werke"
The first director was the Austrian Engineer Franz Joseph Popp.
1929
In the Eisenach Fahrzeugfabrik are manufactured cars under license from
the UK car manufacturer Austin. They are called Dixi 3/15 PS
The production is tranfered to Berlin and after some improvements
the Dixi car is relaunched as BMW 3/15 PS
... the first automobile under the BMW label
using the BMW logo
1936 launch of the BMW 328
1951 launch of BMW 501
1955 launch of BMW 507
1959 the company is facing serious financial difficulties
1959 december 9
shareholder assembly is supposed to vote a resolution
presented by Deutsche Bank to sell the struggeling company to Mercedes Benz.
The businessman Harald Quandt
injectes fresh money and following financial restructuring, aquires 50% of the shares.
The company turns around.
1961 launch of BMW 1500
1966 BMW wins the car race 24h du Mans
1968 launch of BMW 2800CS
1972 Olympic Games in Munich home of BMW
1972 launch of BMW series 5
1972 foundation of BMW Motorsport
1973 foundation of BMW France
1975 launch of BMW series 3
1976 launch of BMW series 6 designed by Paul Bracq
1977 launch of BMW series 7
1978 launch of BMW M1 designed by Giorgio Guigiaro
only 399 items are build
1983 Nelson Piquet becomes World champion
1987 launch of a concept car which becomes the BMW Z 1
1989 launch of BMW series 8
1995 launch of BMW Roadster
maufuctured in the USA
driven in the James Bond film "Golden Eye"
1998 launch of the BMW recycling center
1999 launch of a new car segment - BMW X 5
4 wheel cars
1999 launch of BMW Z 8
2002 launch of BMW Z 4
2003 launch of BMW X 3
2004 launch of BMW series 1
2006 launch of BMW Hydrogen 7
2007 october 17 opening of the showroom BMW Welt
a 73.000 m2 expo center
2009 launch of BMW X1
2012 launch of BMW X6
2012 launch of BMW i8 concept
2010 August 13 Charity concert for the Red Cross in Berlin Potsdam,
organized by Duchess Rixa von Oldenburg
2012 mai 23 opening of the Paris showroom on avenue George V
Today BMW employs 95,453 people and generates 60,48 billion Euro in sales.
The wife and children of Harald Quandt still own 50% of the company.
His daughter Susanne Klatten is very interested in innovation and she loves to discreetly participate in inventions.
Name:
BMW is the abreviation for "Bayerische Mptpren Werke"
which means in english "Bavarian factory for Motor Engines".
The former Kingdom of Bavaria is a state (Bundesland) in the south of Germany.
The capital of Bavaria is Munich, seat of the BMW headquarters.
Logos:
The BMW logo was inspired by the Logo of Rapp Motorenwerke
(predecessor company of BMW)
and by the Flag of Bavaria. The BMW letters are arranged exactly like the ones of Rapp
while the horse logo in the center gets replaced by the national colors of Bavaria.
Internet Domain:
The 3 Letter Internet Domain BMW.com is registered jan 29 1996
is hold in the name of Bayerische Motoren Werke AG Munich.
BMW AG owns a portfolio of approximately 7,234 internet domains. BMW is a 3 letter Domain, from AAA.com to ZZZ.com only 17,576 possible variations of 3 Letter Domains exist
Unlike other companies with 3 letter initials, BWM
was able to get the domain in time.
