Bayerisch Motoren Werke (BMW) is valued at approximately twenty seven billion dollars. It was founded a century ago in 1917 and primarily produced airplanes. Since then, the company has set records for speed and altitude, revolutionized an entire section of the market and dominated racing tracks around the world. And surely, BMW is one of the best selling cars in Dubai as well! Having said that, here are a few things you probably didn’t know about BMW!
- The BMW Headquarters pay homage to its four-cylinder legacy
While it’s true that the highest performing BMWs tend to have six-cylinder engines, so much of BMW’s heritage surrounds the 4-cylinder engine. The headquarters were designed in the 1960s by an Australian professor to pay homage to “the four”.
- The BMW logo is not a spinner
Contrary to popular belief, the BMW logo has nothing to do with a propeller. Call it a trick of the eyes or just an fascinating design, but the spinner propeller is not the origin of the BMW roundel. In fact, the logo is actually a tribute to Rapp motor and Bavaria. The blue and white are the colours of the flag of the German State of Bavaria. Rapp motor was one of the main companies on which BMW was founded. The logo is combination of the Rapp motor logo and the Bavarian Flag colours.
Here is the history behind some other famous car logos and their origins if you are interested!
- World’s record for fastest motorcycle went to BMW!
No matter how impractical it may be, BMW’s motorcycle was aerodynamically smooth ultrafast and supercharged! In 1937, it could reach 173 mph!
- We can thank the Treaty of Versailles for getting BMW into cars!
Strangely, it was the Treaty of Versailles that was responsible for getting BMW into car making. During world War I, BMW was involved in making airplanes. But the terms of the Treaty of Versailles banned the German companies from producing warplanes. This restriction pushed the company to diversify into car making!
- BMW was almost taken over by Mercedes
Due to the cold war in the 1950s, BMW had gone almost bankrupt. Daimler Benz, the holding company of BMW attempted to aggressively acquire BMW but the BMW shareholders fought back and started to buy back shares in an attempt to counter the takeover bid. Eventually, the acquisition failed.
- BMW produces the Mini Cooper and Rolls Royce brands
It is sometimes difficult to determine which brands produce which cars as company takeovers are pretty common, and BMW is the perfect example of that as it took over two British Car firms: Rolls Royce and Mini Cooper. Mini Coopers and Rolls Royce are now produced by BMW. Now if you sell car in Dubai to buy any of the above, know that the parent producer was BMW!
- BMW was way ahead in the electric car race
Many people believe that electric cars are a modern invention but that is not true. Auto companies have played around with the idea since the 19th century. The first electric car was produced in 1828 but it wasn’t until the late 1990s that people became more comfortable with the idea of electric vehicles. BMW, however had produced their first vehicle in 1972 called the BMW 1602e. Even though, the car couldn’t make it to the market due to sub par performance, it did pave the way for future electric cars created by BMW.
If we talk about cars that are comfortable to be driven everyday, and at the same time, quick and powerful to be swung around whenever the mood hits you, the name BMW comes to mind. If you’re interested in buying a BMW, start by selling used car in Dubai and check out CarSwitch.com’s inventory of certified and inspected cars.
