BMW, the German automobile manufacturing company was found by Karl Friedrich Rapp in 1916. BMW or Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Works) was founded as a successor to the Rapp Motor. There is a common belief among people that the logo of BMW is derived from a spinning white propeller seen in the background of the blue sky. But in fact it is known that it also comes from the white and blue flag of Bavaria, which is the largest state of Germany, of which Munich is the capital. BMW is headquartered here.

In 1916, the company secured a

Contract for building V12 engines that were to be used in the creation of the automobiles from Austro-Daimler. These 12 cylinders V engines were at first used in aircrafts which is the original plan of the BMW Company. But anyhow, after the World War I and the Treaty of Versailles, the production of aircraft in Germany was prohibited.  This caused a change in the politics of BMW. They began production of brakes for the rail transport. Soon after that, BMW was able to design a motorcycle engine which was used for the creation of a motorcycle called with the model name Victoria.

BMW started the production of Dixi in the German city Eisenach in 1927, under license but only a year after that the Dixi Company was bought by BMW and they began mass production together with the model Austin Seven. During the World War I, the German army’s motorized division used BMW R75 together with BMW R12 because of the high need of engines.  BMW was the main supplier of it, which was very profitable for them. Some of the best planes in that historical time used the BMW aero-engines.  It was after the Second World War, in 1950, that BMW turned their attention to cars. Now, they are considered as one of the largest producer of cars in the world.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, December 28th, 2008 at 1:08 pm and is filed under BMW. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.