In 1948, BMW restarted motorcycle production. Again, the company survived by making pots, pans, and bicycles. Motorcycles remained as a side-line and automobile manufacture ceased altogether.īMW's factories were heavily bombed during the war and its remaining West German facilities were banned from producing motor vehicles or aircraft after the war. These consisted primarily of prisoners from concentration camps, most prominently Dachau. During the war, BMW concentrated on aircraft engine production using as many as 40,000 slave laborers. Throughout the 1930s, BMW expanded its range into sports cars and larger luxury cars.Īircraft engines, motorcycles, and automobiles would be BMW's main products until World War II. The first car sold as a BMW was a rebadged Dixi called the BMW 3/15, following BMW's acquisition of the car manufacturer Automobilwerk Eisenach. The company produced its first motorcycle, the BMW R 32 in 1923.īMW became an automobile manufacturer in 1928 when it purchased Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach, which, at the time, built Austin Sevens under licence under the Dixi marque. Following the end of World War I, BMW remained in business by producing motorcycle engines, farm equipment, household items and railway brakes.
BMW's first product was a straight-six aircraft engine called the BMW IIIa, designed in the spring of 1917 by engineer Max Friz. The name and Rapp Motorenwerke's engine-production assets were transferred to Bayerische Flugzeugwerke in 1922, who adopted the name the same year. However, the name BMW dates back to 1913, when the original company to use the name was founded by Karl Rapp (initially as Rapp Motorenwerke GmbH). This company was then renamed to Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) in 1922. The firm was reorganized on 7 March 1916 into Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG. Otto Flugmaschinenfabrik was founded in 1910 by Gustav Otto in Bavaria. The Quandt family is a long-term shareholder of the company, following investments by the brothers Herbert and Harald Quandt in 1959 that saved BMW from bankruptcy, with the remaining shares owned by the public. The company has significant motor-sport history, especially in touring cars, sports cars, and the Isle of Man TT.īMW is headquartered in Munich and produces motor vehicles in Germany, Brazil, China, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
In 2017, BMW was the world's fourteenth-largest producer of motor vehicles, with 2,279,503 vehicles produced and in 2022 the 7th largest by revenue. The company was founded in 1916 as a manufacturer of aircraft engines, which it produced from 1917 to 1918 and again from 1933 to 1945.Īutomobiles are marketed under the brands BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce, and motorcycles are marketed under the brand BMW Motorrad. (BMW AG corporate website)īayerische Motoren Werke AG, abbreviated as BMW ( German pronunciation: ⓘ), is a German multinational manufacturer of luxury vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.bmw.com (BMW brand, related sub-brands and operations).
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