Bavarian Motor Works and are the same in the original German language.
BMW is headquartered in Munich, Germany in the state of Bavaria that gives the company the first word of its name. Munich is famous as the host city of the 1972 Summer Olympics.
Company History
BMW was founded in 1916 as the successor of an aircraft manufacturer. After World War I, the company was no longer allowed to produce aircraft engines, so it started making motorcycles. In the late 1920s, it began building cars.
In the 1930s, BMW started making aircraft engines for the military. The company created one of the world’s first jet engines in the early 1940s. For a number of years, it primarily focused on the aviation industry.
BMW has been heavily involved in motorsports since the 1920s. This includes Formula One racing, touring car racing, rallies, and motorcycle racing.
In the 1970s BMW created its famous tagline, The Ultimate Driving Machine, which it still uses today.
For a few years in the 1990s, BMW owned the brands Land Rover, MG, Rover, Austin, and Morris.
In 1994 BMW opened its first factory in the United States in South Carolina. Some of the cars currently made there are exported to Europe.
Vehicles That BMW Makes
The BMW brand is one of the world’s most popular lines of luxury automobiles and one of the big three German automakers, along with Audi and Mercedes-Benz.
Besides its own brand, BMW also owns the Mini line of cars and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce.
In recent years BMW has been making almost 2,000,000 of its own brand of vehicles per year and 300,000 of the Mini line. It makes over 100,000 motorcycles each year and a few thousand Rolls-Royce cars. BMW also makes a full line of premium bicycles.
BMW makes cars in several countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The United States is its largest market.
BMW’s Current Lines of Cars
BMW makes a wide variety of luxury vehicles. Unlike most automakers, BMW does not name its cars with words, just letters and numbers.
The 1 Series hatchback is BMW’s smallest car. The 2 Series coupe and convertible models are in the same class.
The 3 Series is available as a sports sedan, station wagon, and the Gran Turismo (GT). Next is the 4 Series sedan and convertible.
BMW’s 5 Series line is a mid-size compact executive car that you can get as a sedan or station wagon. The 6 Series is a grand touring luxury convertible or coupe of similar size.
The 7 Series is BMW’s top-of-the-line, full-size executive sedan. This is where BMW introduces many of its innovative features.
BMW’s M models (M2 through M6) are their high-performance line of coupes, sedans, and convertibles.
The X1 through X6 are BMW’s family of SUVs and what the company calls sports activity vehicles.
BMW manufactures a line of electric cars, the i8 plug-in hybrid and the i3 all-electric car. The i3 is already one of the top three best-selling all-electric models ever.
As one of the world’s leading car manufacturers, BMW makes a luxury vehicle to suit almost anyone’s needs.