The origins of BMW go back to 1913 when Karl Friedrich Rapp, a Bavarian man who had been a well-known engineer in a German aircraft company for a long time, formed Rapp Motoren Werke in a suburb of Munich. The company mainly focused in airplane engines however Rapp found that they were inefficent and suffered from high extents of vibration. Another man, Gustav Otto, also an airplane specialist, opened his own shop, Gustav Flugmaschinefabrik, building small aircraft.

Because of the bad engine problems, Rapp Motoren Werke signed a contract with Austro-Daimler, who wasn’t able to meet its demands, to build V12 Aero engines under license. The company expanded very fast, however, and by 1916 Rapp resigned from the company because of financial problems. In his shoes, Franz Josef Popp and Max Friz, two Austrians, took over the company. In March that same year, Rapp Motoren Werke merged with Gustav Flugmaschinefabrik to form Bayersiche Flugzeungwerke. It was shortly after, renamed Bayersiche Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Works), or BMW, forming the company we know today.

BMW’s success was unfortunately short lived. After the Second World War, the company had failed. Its factories had been destroyed or dismantled and a three-year ban on any production activities was imposed by the Allies in response to the production of aircraft engines and rockets by BMW during the War. The first post war model, the V8 equipped 501 luxury sedan produced in 1951 was a poor production choice for a country that was also devastated by the war. Demand was low and the 501 did not even com e close to meeting BMW’s expectations.

In 1990 BMW re-entered the aircraft engine manufacturing business after forming BMW Rolls-Royce GmbH jointly with Rolls Royce. In 1998, after extended talks concerning the sale of Rolls Royce, BMW officially bought the rights to the Rolls Royce name and logo from Volkswagen, with the transition expected to take place in 2003. 1994 brought about another purchase, as BMW acquired the Rover Group PLC. After heavy losses, the company was finally sold in 2000, with Rover being split up from Land Rover which was purchased by Ford. BMW held the rights to the new Mini and the hot-hatch goes on sale in early 2002.

Today, the Z3, Z8 and all of the 3, 5, 7 and Motorsport series models continue the BMW tradition of building excellent automobiles with a special emphasis on performance, style and technological advancements. 1992 was another year-to-be-remembered for BMW when it, for the first time, outsold Mercedes in Europe. Hopefully in the future the rivalry between these and other makes will persist and companies such as BMW will continue to build great cars.