History of bmw bmw towers and museum

Three approaches to car manufacture[edit]

1951 BMW 331 prototype
By the end of the 1940s BMW had returned to motorcycle manufacture but still had not restarted automobile manufacture.^[46] Kurt Donath, technical director of BMW and general manager of the Milbertshofen factory,^[41] solicited manufacturers, including Ford and Simca, to produce their vehicles under licence. In particular, Donath was looking to produce old models under licence, so that he could buy tooling along with the licence.^[47]
While Donath was trying to find a car to build under licence, chief engineer Alfred Böning developed a prototype for a small economy car powered by a motorcycle engine. Called the BMW 331, the prototype used a 600 cc motorcycle engine, a four-speed gearbox, and a live rear axle. The body was designed by Peter Schimanowski and resembled a BMW 327 in miniature.^[47]

1954 BMW 502 V8 Super
The BMW 331 was proposed for production to the management, where it was vetoed by sales directorHanns Grewenig. Grewenig, a banker and former Opel plant manager, believed that BMW's small production capacity was best suited to luxury cars with high profit margins, similar to the cars BMW made just before the war. To this end, he had Böning and his team design the501.^[48]
When the 501 was introduced in 1951, its cost of approximately DM15,000 was about four times the average German's earnings.^[49] It was also much heavier than expected and underpowered with a development of BMW's pre-war two litre six.^[49][50] Delays in receiving and setting up equipment caused production of the 501 to be delayed until late 1952,^[49][51] with body construction, originally expected to be done in-house, being done by Karosserie Baur in Stuttgart for more than a year.^[51]
In 1954, the 501 was given an improved, more powerful version of its six-cylinder engine and split into two models, the 501A at basically the same trim level and a price reduction of DM1,000, and a decontented 501B at a further price reduction of DM1,000 below the 501A's price.^[52][53] In addition, the 502, basically a 501 with an even higher trim level^[52][53] and a 2.6 L aluminium V8 engine^[52][54] designed by Bőning and Fiedler,^[55] was introduced to lead BMW's luxury sedan range.^[52][53] The expanded line for 1954 doubled the sales of BMW's luxury cars.^[53]

1956 BMW 507
Influenced by the public response to the introduction of Mercedes-Benz's 300SL and 190SL show cars at the International Motor Sports Auto Show in New York in February 1954, the management of BMW approved Grewenig's proposal to build a sports car based on the 502.^[56] Preliminary design sketches were seen by U.S. importer Max Hoffman, who suggested to industrial designer Albrecht von Goertzthat he should submit design proposals to BMW's management as an alternative. Based on these proposals, BMW contracted the design of the sports car and a four-seat grand tourer to von Goertz in November 1954.^[57] The 507 roadster was introduced at the Waldorf-AstoriaHotel in New York in the summer of 1955,^[58][59] while the 503 four-seater was introduced in September of that year at the Frankfurt Motor Show.^[57]
Hoffman told BMW that he would order 2000 507s if he could sell them for US$5,000 each. When the selling price was given as about twice that, and higher than the 300SL, he withdrew his offer.^[60][61] 412 units of the 503 and 253 of the 507 were built during their production runs from 1956 (May for the 503, November for the 507) to March 1959.^[61][62][63]

BMW Isetta Moto Coupe
Motorcycles were BMW's largest money earner at the time, and their sales had peaked in 1954. Germans were turning away from mopeds and motorcycles toward light automobiles such as the Messerschmitt and the Goggomobil. Eberhard Wolff, BMW's head of automotive development, saw the Iso Rivolta Isetta bubble car at the 1954 Geneva Motor Show and suggested to his managers the possibility of building the Isetta under licence.^[64][65] BMW entered talks with Iso Rivolta and bought both a licence to manufacture the Isetta and all the tooling needed to manufacture its body.^[65][66] Production of BMW's version of the Isetta began in 1955; more than ten thousand Isettas were sold that year.^[66] BMW made more than a hundred thousand Isettas by the end of 1958,^[67] and a total of 161,728 by the end of production in 1962.^[68]

BMW 600
BMW knew that it needed a four-seat family car to keep up with the rising wealth and expectations of the German people, but it could not access funding to develop a new car for this market. They therefore developed the 600, a four-seat car based on the Isetta. The 600 used the front suspension, the front seats, and the front-mounted door from the Isetta, but used a new, longer ladder frame with a longer, four-seat body, a rear-mounted 0.6 L flat-twin motorcycle engine, and a full-width rear track. The 600's rear suspension was BMW's first use of the semi-trailing arm system that would be used on their sedans and coupes until the 1990s. Released in 1957, the 600 could not compete against the larger, more powerful Volkswagen Beetle. Production ended in 1959 after fewer than 35,000 were built.^[69][70][71]
Third crisis for BMW AG – a company for sale

BMW 700
By 1959, BMW was in debt and losing money.^[72] The Isetta was selling well but with small profit margins.^[73] Their 501-based luxury sedans were not selling well enough to be profitable and were becoming increasingly outdated.^[74] Their 503 coupé and 507 roadster were too expensive to be profitable.^[74] Their 600, a four-seater based on the Isetta, was selling poorly.^[69] The motorcycle market imploded in the mid-1950s with increased affluence turning Germans away from motorcycles and toward cars.^[75] BMW had sold their Allach plant to MAN in 1954.^[76] American Motors and the Rootes Group had both tried to acquire BMW.^[77]
At BMW's annual general meeting on 9 December 1959, Dr. Hans Feith, chairman of BMW's supervisory board, proposed a merger withDaimler-Benz. The dealers and small shareholders opposed this suggestion and rallied around a counter-proposal by Dr. Friedrich Mathern, which gained enough support to stop the merger.^[73][77] At that time, the Quandt Group, led by half-brothers Herbert and Harald Quandt, had recently increased their holdings in BMW and had become their largest shareholder.^[77] By the end of November 1960, the Quandts owned two-thirds of BMW's stock between them.^[72]
By this time BMW had launched the 700, a small car with an air-cooled, rear-mounted 697 cc boxer engine derived from the engine powering the R67 motorcycle. It was available as a 2-door sedan and as a coupe, both versions having been designed by Giovanni Michelotti.^[78] There was also a more powerful RS model for racing.^[79]
At the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1961, BMW launched the 1500, a compact sedan with front disc brakes and four-wheel independent suspension.^[80] This modern specification further cemented BMW's reputation for sporting cars. It was the first BMW to officially feature the "Hofmeister kink", the rear window line that has been the hallmark of all BMWs since then.^{[citation needed]}
The "New Class" 1500 was developed into 1600 and 1800 models.^[81] In 1966, the two-door version of the 1600 was launched, along with a convertible in 1967. These models began the '02' series, of which the 2002 was the best known, and which was continued until 1976 when it was replaced by the BMW 3 Series.^[82]
By 1963, with the company back on its feet, BMW offered dividends to its shareholders for the first time since World War II.^[83]

München, BMW Autowerk, 1968
Rover

The Rover 75, the only new Rover released under BMW
Between 1994 and 2001, under the leadership of Bernd Pischetsrieder, BMW owned the British Rover Group, having bought it from British Aerospace. This brought the active Rover, Mini and Land Rover brands as well as rights to many dormant marques such as Austin, Morris,Riley, Triumph and Wolseley under BMW ownership.
The venture was not successful. Already struggling after years of industrial disputes, Rover had a poor reputation but in trying to improve its image it would become a rival to the BMW market segment. BMW found it difficult to reposition the English automaker alongside its own products and the Rover division was faced with endless changes in its marketing strategy. In the six years under BMW, Rover was positioned as a premium automaker, a mass-market automaker, a division of BMW and an independent unit. A five-part BBC documentary,When Rover Met BMW (1996), gave some insight into the difficulties faced by the two firms.^[84]
It is possible that some development work on the Rover R30 model may have eventually benefitted the BMW 1 Series.^[85]

Controversial BMW 7 Series (E65)"Bangle butt"^[86]
Production outside Germany
BMW signed an agreement in 1999 with Avtotor to produce cars in Kaliningrad, Russia. The Factory has been assembling 3 and 5 -series cars.^[87]
Starting from October 2004, BMWs intended for the Chinese market are produced in Shenyang, China.^[88] BMW has established a joint venture with Chinese manufacturer Brilliance to build BMW 3 Series and 5 Series that have been modified for the needs of local markets.
The BMW X3 was manufactured in Graz, Austria between 2004 and 2007 by Magna Steyr with mainly German components. The X3 production will be moved to the Spartanburg plant due in part to high production and transportation costs of what was meant to be the "more affordable" SUV. North American pricing, after said costs, were nearly on par with the larger, American-built X5.^[89]
In 2005, BMW Group built a new manufacturing facility in Egypt. This plant builds 3 Series, 5 Series, 7 Series, and X3 vehicles for the African and Middle East markets.
BMW opened its first assembly plant in Chennai, India in March 2007 to assemble 3-series and 5-series vehicles. The 20 Million Euro plant aims to produce 1,700 cars per year in, unveiled on January 2, 2003, and officially launched at the Detroit Auto Show on January 5, 2003. The model, priced around US$330,000, has experienced record sales worldwide of 796 Phantoms sold in 2005. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, BMW's subsidiary manufacturing Rolls-Royces, has since launched the Rolls-Royce Ghost.