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55-465: The BMW Museum is the corporate museum of BMW history and was established in 1973, shortly after the 1972 Summer Olympics opened. From 2004 to 2008, it was renovated in connection with the construction of the BMW Welt , directly opposite. The museum reopened on 21 June 2008. At the moment the exhibition space is 5,000 square meters for the presentation of about 120 exhibits. The BMW Museum exhibits

110-453: A BMW 7 Series (G11) special edition simply called "The Final V12", the last BMW series production vehicle to be fitted with a V-12 engine. On 5 October 2023 it was announced that BMW UK CEO Chris Brownridge would succeed Torsten Müller-Ötvös as the CEO of Rolls-Royce starting 1 December 2023, as a result of Müller-Ötvös retiring. BMW is an abbreviation for Bayerische Motoren Werke . This name

165-543: A built-in balance shaft, an increased capacity to 1,170 cc (71 cu in) and enhanced performance to 75 kW (101 hp) for the R1200GS , compared to 63 kW (84 hp) of the previous R1150GS . More powerful variants of the oilhead engines are available in the R1100S and R1200S, producing 73 and 91 kW (98 and 122 hp), respectively. In 2004, BMW introduced the new K1200S Sports Bike which marked

220-498: A departure for BMW. It had an engine producing 125 kW (168 hp), derived from the company's work with the Williams F1 team, and is lighter than previous K models. Innovations include electronically adjustable front and rear suspension, and a Hossack-type front fork that BMW calls Duolever. BMW introduced anti-lock brakes on production motorcycles starting in the late 1980s. The generation of anti-lock brakes available on

275-656: A number of awards in the visual arts. These include the BMW Art Journey award, which honors a young or mid-career artist in collaboration with Art Basel , and the BMW Painting Award, which was created to promote painting in Spain by finding new talent and showcasing their work. Automobilwerk Eisenach 50°58′52″N 10°19′19″E  /  50.981111°N 10.321944°E  / 50.981111; 10.321944 The Automobilwerk Eisenach ( AWE )

330-684: A permanent collection with affirmative stance and is founded, as well as maintained by BMW. The BMW Museum contextualizes consumer products , in the main BMW automobiles. History, mobility, and place are the basis for the BMW Museum's exhibition strategy. BMW claims, that the BMW Museum is "a fixture of Munich culture" on a par with the Deutsches Museum and the Neue Pinakothek . The museum shows BMW's technical development throughout

385-673: A re-appearance of the Wartburg name. In 1932 a new small car, the 3/20 AM-1 , was announced with independent suspension all round and an enlarged 788cc (48ci) engine. In 1933 BMW started to develop bigger cars with 6-cylinder engines. The first car of which was the BMW 303 . Later successors were the BMW 315 , BMW 319 , BMW 327 and the elegant sports coupe BMW 328 . In 1942 BMW moved its motorcycle production to Eisenach, freeing up space in Munich for air craft engines. The main product

440-447: Is a futuristic cauldron-shaped building, which was also designed by Karl Schwanzer and opened in 1972. The interior has a spiral theme and the roof is a 40-metre diameter BMW logo. BMW Welt , the company's exhibition space in Munich, was designed by Coop Himmelb(l)au and opened in 2007. It includes a showroom and lifting platforms where a customer's new car is theatrically unveiled to the customer. In 1975, sculptor Alexander Calder

495-551: 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 Otto Flugmaschinenfabrik was founded in 1910 by Gustav Otto in the Kingdom of Bavaria , which was a state of the German Empire . The firm was reorganized on 7 March 1916 into Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG . This company

550-689: Is grammatically incorrect (in German, compound words must not contain spaces), which is why the grammatically correct form of the name, Bayerische Motorenwerke ( German pronunciation: [ˈbaɪʁɪʃə moˈtoːʁənˌvɛʁkə] ) has been used in several publications and advertisements in the past. Bayerische Motorenwerke translates into English as Bavarian Motor Works . The suffix AG, short for Aktiengesellschaft , signifies an incorporated entity owned by shareholders, thus akin to "Inc." (US) or PLC, "Public Limited Company" (UK). The terms Beemer, Bimmer and Bee-em are sometimes used as slang for BMW in

605-412: Is now known as BMW Motorrad . Their first successful motorcycle after the failed Helios and Flink, was the " R32 " in 1923, though production originally began in 1921. This had a " boxer " twin engine, in which a cylinder projects into the air-flow from each side of the machine. Apart from their single-cylinder models (basically to the same pattern), all their motorcycles used this distinctive layout until

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660-483: Is only 20 meters in diameter, the flat roof about 40 metres. The entrance is on the ground floor BMW The companies automobiles are marketed under the BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce brands, and motorcycles are marketed under the BMW Motorrad brand. Also in 2023, BMW was the world's ninth-largest producer of motor vehicles , with 2,555,341 vehicles produced and in 2023 the 6th largest by revenue. In 2023,

715-586: The Luftstreitkräfte . It was a straight-six aircraft engine called the BMW IIIa , designed in the spring of 1917 by engineer Max Friz . Following the end of World War I, BMW remained in business by producing motorcycle engines, agricultural equipment, household items, and railway brakes. The company produced its first motorcycle, the BMW R 32 , in 1923. BMW became an automobile manufacturer in 1928 when it purchased Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach, which, at

770-591: The 225xe using a 1.5 L three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine with an electric motor, the 330e / 530e using a 2.0 L four-cylinder engine with an electric motor, and the 550e / 750e using a 3.0 L six-cylinder engine with an electric motor. Also, crossover and SUV plug-in hybrid models have been released using i technology: X1 xDrive25e , X2 xDrive25e , X3 xDrive30e , and X5 xDrive40e . The BMW M GmbH subsidiary (called BMW Motorsport GmbH until 1993) started making high-performance versions of various BMW models in 1978. As of November 2024 ,

825-504: The BMW 321 , of which almost 4,000 were made between late 1945 and 1950. A number of partially completed cars had been stored in the nearby salt mines in 1941, when automobile production had been halted; these cars were completed by Awtowelo after the war. A handful of BMW 326s were made in 1946-1947, and 161 EMW 325/3s ( kübelwagen ) were made in 1952. In 1949 the Eisenach works launched

880-588: The BMW 340 (a development of the BMW 326 with modified front and rear bodywork) and the BMW 327 . Around 150 BMW 327 were built between 1949 and 1952, when it was renamed EMW. As long as the Soviets owned the company, BMW in Munich could not bring legal proceedings to protect its tradename. As the Munich factory was not producing cars yet, all "BMWs" made from 1945 to 1951 are Eisenach products. Initially, Awtowelo relied on pre-war stock of parts, but as production

935-624: The BMW M3 in 1986. Also in 1986, BMW introduced its first V12 engine in the 750i luxury sedan. The 1989 BMW Z1 marked BMW's return to making a two-seat roadster, the 1995 BMW Z3 was their first mass-production two-seat roadster, and the 1999 BMW X5 was the company's first entry into the SUV market. The company purchased the Rover Group in 1994, but the takeover was not successful and caused BMW large financial losses. In 2000, BMW sold off most of

990-481: The K Series , shaft drive but water-cooled and with either three or four cylinders mounted in a straight line from front to back. Shortly after, BMW also started making the chain-driven F and G series with single and parallel twin Rotax engines. In the early 1990s, BMW updated the airhead Boxer engine which became known as the oilhead . In 2002, the oilhead engine had two spark plugs per cylinder. In 2004 it added

1045-644: The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ’s Madrid Yearly Review ranked BMW's number of marks applications filled under the Madrid System as 2nd in the world, with 124 trademarks applications submitted during 2023. The key trends of the BMW Group are (as at the financial year ending December 31): BMW began production of motorcycle engines and then motorcycles after World War I. Its motorcycle brand

1100-448: The X Series SUVs and crossovers are: The current model line of the Z Series two-door roadsters is the Z4 (model code G29 ). All-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles are sold under the BMW i sub-brand. The current model range consists of: In addition, several plug-in hybrid models built on existing platforms have been marketed as iPerformance models. Examples include

1155-468: The 1960s, BMW expanded its range by adding coupé and luxury sedan models. The BMW 5 Series mid-size sedan range was introduced in 1972, followed by the BMW 3 Series compact sedans in 1975, the BMW 6 Series luxury coupés in 1976 and the BMW 7 Series large luxury sedans in 1978. The BMW M division released its first road car, a mid-engine supercar, in 1978. This was followed by the BMW M5 in 1984 and

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1210-443: The 2006 and later BMW motorcycles paved the way for the introduction of electronic stability control , or anti-skid technology later in the 2007 model year. BMW has been an innovator in motorcycle suspension design, taking up telescopic front suspension long before most other manufacturers. Then they switched to an Earles fork , front suspension by swinging fork (1955 to 1969). Most modern BMWs are truly rear swingarm, single sided at

1265-463: The English language and are sometimes used interchangeably for cars and motorcycles. The circular blue and white BMW logo or roundel evolved from the circular Rapp Motorenwerke company logo, which featured a black ring bearing the company name surrounding the company logo, an image of a horse head on a plinth. BMW retained Rapp's black ring inscribed with the company name, but the interior of

1320-541: The M lineup is: The letter "M" is also often used in the marketing of BMW's regular models, for example the F20 M140i model, the G11 M760Li model and various optional extras called "M Sport", "M Performance" or similar. BMW has a long history of motorsport activities, including: The global BMW Headquarters in Munich represents the cylinder head of a 4-cylinder engine . It was designed by Karl Schwanzer and

1375-682: The R35/3 with plunger rear suspension . Eisenach built just over 83,000 of the R35 and its variants before its motorcycle production ended in 1955. In 1952, the Soviet owners handed the company over to the German Democratic Republic , and it became a state-owned company. By that time BMW from Munich was able to secure its tradename, logo , and typical double-nostril grille appearance, and started to produce cars again. The Eisenach company

1430-564: The Rover brands, retaining only the Mini brand. In 1998, BMW also acquired the rights to the Rolls-Royce brand from Vickers . The first modern mass-produced turbocharged petrol engine was introduced in 2006 (from 1973 to 1975, BMW built 1,672 units of a turbocharged BMW M10 engine for the BMW 02 Series ), with most engines switching over to turbocharging over the 2010s. The first hybrid BMW

1485-565: The back (compare with the regular swinging fork usually, and wrongly, called swinging arm ). Some BMWs started using yet another trademark front suspension design, the Telelever, in the early 1990s. Like the Earles fork, the Telelever significantly reduces dive under braking. BMW Group, on 31 January 2013, announced that Pierer Industrie AG has bought Husqvarna Motorcycles for an undisclosed amount, which will not be revealed by either party in

1540-500: The black outline encircling the rondel. The logo is used for BMW's branding communications but it is not used on vehicles. The slogan 'The Ultimate Driving Machine' was first used in North America in 1974. In 2010, this long-lived campaign was mostly supplanted by a campaign intended to make the brand more approachable and to better appeal to women, 'Joy'. By 2012 BMW had returned to 'The Ultimate Driving Machine'. In 2023,

1595-689: The company renamed as Dixi-Werke AG in 1920; but soon economic hardship forced a merger with Gothaer Waggonfabrik AG. Another result of the economic downturn was a change in output, focusing on small cars. In 1927 Dixi produced the DA-1 3/15, a version of the British Austin 7 built under licence. In November 1928 BMW acquired the Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach A.G. (Marke "Dixi") from the Gothaer Waggonfabrik bringing

1650-794: The company was nearly taken over by rival Daimler-Benz. A large investment in BMW by Herbert Quandt and Harald Quandt resulted in the company surviving as a separate entity. Günther Quandt , was a well-known German industrialist, joined the Nazi party in 1933 and made a fortune arming the German Wehrmacht, manufacturing weapons and batteries. Many of his enterprises were appropriated from Jewish owners under duress with minimal compensation. At least three of his enterprises made extensive use of slave laborers, as many as 50,000 in all. One of his battery factories had its own on-site concentration camp, complete with gallows. Life expectancy for laborers

1705-768: The company was ranked 46th in the Forbes Global 2000 . The company has significant motor-sport history, especially in touring cars , sports cars , and the Isle of Man TT . BMW is headquartered in Munich and produces motor vehicles in Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands (ceased in 2023), the United States, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, India and China. The Quandt family  [ de ]

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1760-563: The company's history. It contains engines and turbines, aircraft, motorcycles, and vehicles in a plethora of possible variations. In addition to actual models there are futuristic-looking, even conceptual studies from the past 20 years. Known as the salad bowl or white cauldron , the silver futuristic building was designed by the architect of the BMW Headquarters , the Viennese professor Karl Schwanzer . The roughly circular base

1815-542: The early 1980s. Many BMW's are still produced in this layout, which is designated the R Series . The entire BMW Motorcycle production has, since 1969, been located at the company's Berlin-Spandau factory. During the Second World War, BMW produced the BMW R75 motorcycle with a motor-driven sidecar attached, combined with a lockable differential , this made the vehicle very capable off-road. In 1982, came

1870-660: The end for AWE, as due to its obsolete labour-intensive production assets it could not compete with modern Western German plants. However, locals wanted to save manufacturing jobs, and in March 1990 Adam Opel AG concluded a collaboration agreement with the plant. Things moved fast, and on 5 October 1990, AWE and Opel together opened an assembly line for the Opel Vectra . Guests at the accompanying celebrations included Helmut Kohl . The Treuhand agency closed AWE in April 1991, but

1925-607: The end of 1955 (see above). In 1956, the first Wartburg (Type 311 and later the 312 ) was launched with a new design, but maintaining the DKW based two-stroke engine . The Wartburg 353 , introduced in 1966, received a new body, but still used the two-stroke engine, now with a displacement of 1000 cc. Many new ideas were proposed by the engineers, but they were not accepted by the state authorities. Finally, in 1988, license-built Volkswagen four-cylinder four-stroke engines were introduced. The German reunification of October 1990 meant

1980-531: The first being Benz & Cie and the second being Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft . His son Gustav subsequently took over the factory, which at the end of the 19th century employed 1,300 workers and was one of the largest in Thuringia . In 1903, the Ehrhardt family withdrew from management due to financial losses and also because the license to build Decauvilles was revoked. The factory began building under

2035-432: The future. The company is headed by Stephan Pierer (CEO of KTM). Pierer Industrie AG is 51% owner of KTM and 100% owner of Husqvarna. In September 2018, BMW unveiled a new self-driving motorcycle with BMW Motorrad with a goal of using the technology to help improve road safety. The design of the bike was inspired by the company's BMW R1200 GS model. The current model lines of BMW cars are: The current model lines of

2090-457: The head of the BMW Group. In January 2021, BMW announced that its sales in 2020 fell by 8.4 percent due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. However, in the fourth quarter of 2020, BMW witnessed a rise of 3.2% in its customers' demands. This recovery was supported by the company's adoption of widely accepted technologies and integration of third-party services such as Apply Pay and on-demand music. On 18 January 2022 BMW announced

2145-519: The independent existence of Dixi to an end and the Eisenach factory became the birthplace of car manufacturing by BMW. The Dixi continued briefly as the BMW Dixi but the renamed BMW-Factory Eisenach soon started making an updated version of the car called the BMW 3/15 PS dropping the Dixi name. By 1931, 25,000 cars had been produced in a series going from DA 1 to DA 4. The DA-3, a sporting version, saw

2200-404: The logo is based on the image of an airplane propeller spinning in a blue sky. This myth likely stems from a 1929 BMW advertisement that depicted the logo superimposed on a rotating propeller. However, the logo predates that advertisement by 12 years. The current iteration of the logo was introduced in 2020, removing 3D effects that had been used in previous renderings of the logo while removing

2255-420: The new name, Dixi, in 1904 with Willi Seck as chief engineer. The top model, the type U35, was introduced in 1907 and was soon recognized for its reliability and performance with 65 hp (48 kW ) and a top speed of 85 km/h (53 mph). During World War I the company produced trucks and guns. Afterwards the factory suffered from reparations with removal of equipment. In 1919, car production resumed with

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2310-440: The ring is quartered blue and white, reminiscent of the coat of arms and flag of Bavaria (which in turn are based on the arms of the historic House of Wittelsbach , which ruled Bavaria for many centuries). The logo does not bear the distinctive lozenge shape found on the coat of arms, however, as local laws at the time it was introduced forbade the use of state coats of arms on commercial logos. A persistent myth claims that

2365-454: The time, built the Austin 7 under licence from Dixi . The first car sold as a BMW was a rebadged BMW Dixi called the BMW 3/15 , following BMW's acquisition of the car manufacturer Automobilwerk Eisenach. Throughout the 1930s, BMW expanded its range into sports cars and larger luxury cars. Aircraft engines, motorcycles, and automobiles would be BMW's main products until World War II. During

2420-552: The type 340 as the EMW 340-2 . Production of both models ceased in 1955, by which time Eisenach had produced a total of over 21,200 BMW/EMW 340 s and 400 BMW/EMW 327 s. Total production of four-stroke automobiles between 1945 and 1955 was just over 30,800. In 1945, AWE resumed production of the pre-war BMW R35 motorcycle. This became the EMW R 35 in 1952, was modified as the R35/2 and later

2475-434: The war, BMW concentrated on the BMW 801 aircraft engine using as many as 40,000 slave laborers. These consisted primarily of prisoners from Nazi concentration camps , most prominently Dachau . Motorcycles remained as a side-line and automobile manufacture ceased altogether. BMW's factories were heavily bombed during the war and its remaining West German facilities were banned from producing motor vehicles or aircraft after

2530-486: The war. Again, the company survived by making pots, pans, and bicycles. In 1948, BMW restarted motorcycle production. BMW resumed car production in Bavaria in 1952 with the BMW 501 luxury saloon. The range of cars was expanded in 1955, through the production of the cheaper Isetta microcar under licence. Slow sales of luxury cars and small profit margins from microcars, meant BMW was in serious financial trouble and in 1959

2585-583: Was an automobile manufacturer in Eisenach , Germany. Heinrich Ehrhardt founded the Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach (FFE) in Eisenach on 3 December 1896 as a stock company. Initially, he produced bicycles and guns . After two years, he started to produce a motor car which he called the Wartburg , a licensed model of the French Decauville . The company was the third to manufacture cars in Germany,

2640-511: Was commissioned to paint the BMW 3.0 CSL racing car driven by Hervé Poulain at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which became the first in the series of BMW Art Cars. Since Calder's work of art, many other renowned artists throughout the world have created BMW Art Cars, including David Hockney , Jenny Holzer , Roy Lichtenstein , Robert Rauschenberg , Frank Stella , and Andy Warhol . To date, a total of 19 BMW Art Cars, based on both racing and regular production vehicles, have been created. BMW sponsors

2695-406: Was completed in 1972. The building has become a European icon and was declared a protected historic building in 1999. The main tower consists of four vertical cylinders standing next to and across from each other. Each cylinder is divided horizontally in its center by a mold in the facade. Notably, these cylinders do not stand on the ground; they are suspended on a central support tower. BMW Museum

2750-603: Was renamed Eisenacher Motorenwerk (EMW), its logo being a variation of the BMW logo, the blue quadrants replaced by red ones. EMW participated in the 1953 German Grand Prix . One year later it received its final name VEB Automobilwerk Eisenach ( AWE ). The first new model had a three-cylinder two-stroke engine, the IFA 309 . This was based on the DKW F9 prototype that was developed in 1939, but not put into production. The manufacture of models derived from pre-war BMWs, finished at

2805-622: Was six months. While Quandt and BMW were not directly connected during the war, funds amassed in the Nazi era by his father allowed Herbert Quandt to buy BMW. The relative success of the small BMW 700 assisted in the company's recovery, allowing them to develop the New Class sedans. The 1962 introduction of the BMW New Class compact sedans was the beginning of BMW's reputation as a leading manufacturer of sport-oriented cars. Throughout

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2860-570: Was stepped up, the company began changing over to newly manufactured parts. The new, East German parts were of inferior quality, with off-center bolts, wiring with low copper content, while the factory suffered frequent sabotage by disgruntled workers. The EMWs quickly developed a reputation for being unreliable. In 1952 the works were transferred to ownership by the East German government and renamed EMW or Eisenacher Motorenwerk (see below). It continued type 327 production and further developed

2915-560: Was the 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid 7 , and BMW's first mass-production electric car was the BMW i3 city car, which was released in 2013, (from 1968 to 1972, BMW built two battery-electric BMW 1602 Elektro saloons for the 1972 Olympic Games). After many years of establishing a reputation for sporting rear-wheel drive cars, BMW's first front-wheel drive car was the 2014 BMW 2 Series Active Tourer multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) . In March 2018, Daimler and BMW merged their mobility services. In August 2019, Oliver Zipse replaced Harald Krüger as

2970-533: Was the highly successful R75 .In 1942 regular automobile production was stopped because of World War II and started to manufacture aircraft engines for the Luftwaffe . By the end of the war about 60% of the factory had been destroyed. After the war, Thuringia was part of the Soviet sector, and the factory became a Soviet Stock company named Sowjetische AG Maschinenbau Awtowelo , Werk BMW Eisenach (Soviet Awtowelo Co., Eisenach BMW Works). Production restarted with

3025-415: Was then renamed to Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) in 1922. However, the name BMW dates back to 1913, when a company to use the name was founded by Karl Rapp initially as Rapp Motorenwerke . The name and Rapp Motorenwerke 's engine-production assets were transferred to Bayerische Flugzeugwerke in 1922, who adopted the name the same year. BMW's first product was produced for fighter aircraft of

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