BMW History & New Models
BMW is one of the best known car brands in the world and probably the best known German car brand. BMW is known for its luxury cars at an affordable price and first started manufacturing cars in 1913. It was far from being the first automobile maker in Germany, but became famous very quickly.
BMW stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke AG or in an English translation, Bavarian Motor Works. It is the biggest manufacturer of luxury cars in the world. They also make luxury motorcycles as well. BMW is also the parent company of the BMW MINI and the Rolls Royce car brands.
Dubbed the “The Ultimate Driving Machine”, BMW has over 100,000 employees worldwide and has it’s headquarters in Munich, Germany.
BMW has an interesting past as it was the preferred motorcycle maker of Nazi Germany. BMW also made engines for the Luftwaffe. Their research and development teams even worked on weapons of mass destruction for the Nazi regime. It used slave labour during the war to create a lot of its products.
After the war, BMW was not overly successful with its passenger cars. Sales were lackluster at best. It came to the point in 1959 that BMW managment were considering selling the whole business to another famous automobile maker, Daimler Benz, but they changed their minds at the last moment and gave it one last ditch effort.
BMW released the 700 series that was used as a race car and after quite a few successful results, BMW made a name for itself as a sporty sedan.
Popular current models of the BMW are the 1 series, 3 series, 5 series, 6 series, 7 series, Z series and X series of automobiles. BMW’s venture into the family 4wd has paid off with X3 and the X5 making a massive impact into the SUV market. This has become hugely popular with families and women.
BMW has had a long history with auto racing. BMW runs a successful Forumla 1 team as well as a successful research and development production for other Formula 1 teams who often use BMW engines in their cars. It also plays a big part in the Paris Dakar Rally, where six BMW motorcycles have won the race so far.