BMW History
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW- Bavarian Motor Works) is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916 under the original name of Bayerische Flugzeug-Werke. It also owns and produces the MINI brand, and is the parent company of Rolls Royce Motor Cars as well. The company is known for its production of performance and luxury vehicles.
The company built a large plant and constructed military engines until the end of 1918. Two months before the end of the First World War, on August 13th 1918, the company was converted into a stock corporation with a share capital of 12 million Reichmarks, one third of which was held by business magnate, Camillo Castiglioni. The General Manager of the formely limited-liability company, Franz Joseph Popp, became General Director. Following the ban on production of aircraft engines after the First World War, the company relocated and concentrated on building rail vehicle brakes and built-in engines.
The circular white and blue company logo has been the subject of many debates around its origin. It has been said that it symbolises the movement of an aircraft propellor, however other experts have said it symbolises the colours of the Free State of Bavaria. Either way the BMW badge is now an instantly recognised brand.
In the 1930s, the aircraft industry received huge state subsidies and BMW started production again. During the Second World war, the Munich plant sustained serious damage in allied raids in 1944, whereas the Allach plant was virtually untouched. After the war in mid-1945, BMW was given permission to undertake repairs on US army vehicles. However soon after, US military orders caused both plants to close and BMW lost control of its assets until 1949. Their fresh start came with the production of their two-wheeler motorcycle, with the first R 24 being produced by December 1948.
Towards the end of the 1950s, the company's position became unstable and after a Daimler-Benz offer of restructuring was rejected by shareholders, Herbert Quandt increased his shareholding to take control of the company. The original Munich Plant reached its capacity by the the mid 1960s however when BMW bought Hans Glas GmbH in 1967 it acquired three factories at Dingolfing and Landshut which were subsequently overhauled.
In the 1970s BMW continued to grow under the Chairmanship of Eberhard v. Kuenheim who grew BMW into a global brand. Their new head office was opened in 1973 however as the company was growing so rapidly, they had already outgrown it by the time they moved in. They established subsidiaries worldwide to grow the company in all key markets and under Bob Lutz, head of sales, they took control of overseas sales off the previous BMW importers into their own subsidiary network. This was a significant step in the profitability and growth of BMW.
In the 1980s BMW continued to build new factories in Steyr in Upper Austria and also established BMW Technick GmbH to create products for volume production. One of the first projects for this new division was the creation of the BMW Z1, which went into production in 1988. In the 1990s BMW opened their Research and Innovation Centre (FIZ) which comprises design, production, testing facilities plus a prototype unit. In 1992 BMW ventured into the USA and built a plant at Spartanburg in South Carolina. This was specifically for the production the Z3 Roadster and by the late 1990s the BMW X5 4x4.
In 1994 they bought the Rover Group and acquired Rover, MINI, Land Rover and MG with a brief to update the product lines. In 1998 they also acquired the use of the Rolls-Royce name for cars, but under the agreement with Volkswagen they could not use the name until 2003.
In 2000, BMW sold the Rover Group for £10, however retained the iconic MINI brand. In that year BMW also realigned the brands to focus on selected premium segments in the car market. The BMW 1 Series has been focussing on the lower midsize class and for example the larger coupe/convertible sector has seen the BMW 6 Series re-introduced. The new MINI brand was launched in 2001 with production commencing at their Oxfordshire plant.
BMW is now leading the way in developing new green technologies and their EfficientDynamics technology has ensured that the company is set to continue producing luxury, economical and performance cars. A selection of BMW contract hire offers are listed below.
