BMW Group: German Brand That Ruled After a Series of Failures

BMW

If you are a car enthusiast, it would come as no surprise about the prominence of BMW being one of the top luxury sports cars in the market. The brand relates to luxury with the marketing tagline ‘The Ultimate Driving Machine’. This simply means that the BMW Group offers much more than just a car or motorcycle to drive. The brand prides itself on offering an unparalleled driving experience, characterized by precise handling and powerful engines. A top-notch appearance that has won the hearts of millions. 

About the BMW Group

BMW is a German automaker that is renowned across the globe for its quality sports sedans and also a wide array of motorcycles. Over the years, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (or just BMW). It has successfully penetrated the market and proudly takes home the position as one of the most prominent car brands. 

BMW is sometimes anglicized or called ‘Bavarian Motor Works’, and is a multinational manufacturer of luxury vehicles with its principal headquarters located in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.

Although the headquarters are located in Munich. It is interesting to know that BMW produces motor vehicles in several places outside of Germany, including the United Kingdom. The Netherlands (which was discontinued from 2023), the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Africa, China, and also India. 

In 2023, BMW took the market by storm and claimed ninth place as the world’s largest producer of motor vehicles, with approximately 2555341 vehicles produced just in 2023. In the same year, BMW Group ranked 46th in the Forbes Global 2000. It was also crowned 6th as the largest vehicle manufacturer by revenue. 

Despite positioning itself as a market leader, The BMW Group has faced numerous challenges. The Quandt family, who are known to be linked to the notorious Nazi Party. It has been a long-term shareholder of the company. 

History of BMW Group

History of BMW goes back to early 1916, when a local aircraft producer called Bayerische Flugzeugwerke was established on 7th March 1916. 

The company went through a sea of changes in names. It was eventually renamed to Bayerische Motoren Werke, which became the BMW full form in 1922.

Interestingly, the first product that was marketed was a straight-six aircraft engine called the BMW IIIa, and towards the end of World War I. The company gained momentum and remained in business very much so by producing motorcycle engines. In addition to farm equipment, railway equipment, and also household items. 

Ups and Downs: How to Overcame 

Producing and manufacturing such items was not enough to keep going in the market, thus from periods 1918 to 1919. The BMW Group company went through a rather difficult phase. BMW turned towards manufacturing motorcycle engines by building a smooth operating engine to keep things afloat. Which it did by producing a responsive machine. The engine modification was well received by the general public. But this did not mean that the motorcycles that were built had to be well received. Their products sold slowly, which affected the overall revenue and demand. The General Director of that time, Franz Josef Pop, had to branch out the company’s goods. Thus it became a subcontract manufacturer for the renowned braking system manufacturer named Knorr Bremse.

By May 1920, the major shareholder at BMW Group, who was a Vienna-based Italian speculator named Camillo Castiglioni. It had sold all of his shares to Knorr Bremse, who then went on to acquire the remaining shares to make sure that BMW became a wholly owned subsidiary company under the leadership of Josef Popp. However, within two years, Josef Popp persuaded Castiglioni to buy back the company’s name and the product for its production site on the opposite side of the airfield. 

Journey of BMW Through Adversity and Recovery

Until World War II, BMW’s primary products were aircraft engines, motorcycles, and automobiles. During the war, the company focused on producing the BMW 801 aircraft, employing up to 40K slave laborers, including prisoners from Nazi concentration camps. Motorcycles remained a secondary sideline product, and at this time, automobile manufacturing was completely stopped.

During this time, the BMW factories were destroyed thanks to heavy bombing. The company survived this dry spell period by making pots, pans, and bicycles. However, in 1948, BMW restarted the production of motorcycles, followed by car production in Bavaria in 1952 with the BMW 501 Luxury saloon car.

By 1955, there was a wide variety of cars being manufactured, especially due to the production of the Isetta microcar. The company saw slow sales and profit margins, which meant bad financial trouble, and the company was nearly taken over by the rival Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes had fully owned Audi in 1959 when it nearly bought BMW Group, but by this time, brothers Herbert and Harald Quandt had made a large investment in the company, thus saving it from going broke.

This relative success gave BMW the push it needed, and it manufactured the BMW 700, which helped recover some of the company’s losses. 

By 1962, the German company introduced the BMW New Class compact sedans, which slowly became the beginning of a new era—wherein it became a leading manufacturer of sports cars.

In the 21st Century

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, BMW Group had announced that its overall sales had fallen by several percent. However, towards the end of the year, the company witnessed a 3.2% rise in the demand of customers. This was due to widely accepted technologies and integration of third-party services like Apple Pay and on-demand music, etc. 

In addition to this, BMW’s strategic investment decisions played a major part in the overall rise in the brand’s sales and recovery. 

On 5th October 2023, the company announced that the UK Branch CEO Chris Brownridge would succeed Torsten Muller-Otvos as the CEO of Rolls Royce due to the latter retiring on 1st December 2023.

Owner of BMW Group

The company is owned by the BMW Group, and they are known as BMW AG in Germany. However, we do know that the company is owned by shareholders, meaning that BMW is a publicly traded company but owned by shareholders. 

Whilst half of the company is owned by public investors, the other half is owned by the Quandt family. 

  • 29% of the shares are held by Stefan Quandt, a German industrialist and engineer and member of the Nazi-linked Quandt family.
  • 21% of the shares are held by Susanne Klatten, Stefan’s sister, who is also a successful businesswoman and investor in BMW.
  • 50% of the shares are held by the public investors.

World War II Empact: 

The automobile production was temporarily stopped by BMW Group back in 1941 because the government banned it. The company’s factories were all heavily bombed, and even after the war was over, BMW was banned from producing more cars and bicycles in some areas. Thus causing the company immense revenue loss. 

Economic Slowdowns:

Due to several factors, such as slow, snail-paced sales. The BMW company was unable to pull through or even break even. The decline of luxury cars, motorcycle sales, and small profit margins from microcars were all factors that contributed to the economic challenge.

In addition to this, the company has also faced a lot of costly recalls and modifications due to the brakes being faulty, which also affected the sales immensely.

Regulatory requirements: 

Several factors, like rising costs of production, the exchange rate effect, and rising prices of raw materials. It have also resulted in severe challenges from the regulatory perspective. This implies that the company has encountered numerous challenges and pitfalls at every stage of development.

Logo of the brand has seen a lot of change since 1997. When it included a circular blue and white roundel that evolved from the Rapp Motorwerke company logo. This features a black ring bearing the company name surrounding the company logo. Which is the image of a horsehead on a plinth. 

In 2020, the black ring was replaced by a white ring and the iconic blue and white check pattern.

BMW Slogan

A popular tagline-cum-slogan ‘The Ultimate Driving Machine’ was first established in North America in 1974. This slogan has remained since then. 

BMW Group Top Models 

The current and most recent line of models and products of BMW Company include 

ModelsFeaturesPrice
1 Series These are 5-door hatchbacks with the model number code F70INR 22 lakhs- 37 lakhs.
2 SeriesThis series features two-door coupes, a 5-seat MPV ‘Active Tourer’, and a four-door ‘Gran Coupe’ fastback sedan car.INR 43.90 – INR 46 lakhs.
3 SeriesThese are four-door sedans; they also include five-door station wagons and a wheelbase model, which is exclusive to China only.INR 41 lakhs – INR 52 lakhs
4 Series These include 2-door coupes, 2-door convertibles, and 5-door ‘Gran Coupe’ fastbacks.INR 55 lakhs.
5 SeriesThese include four-door sedans, five-door station wagons, and wheelbase models meant for China.INR 72-73 lakhs.
7 SeriesFour-door sedansINR 1.81 crores
8 SeriesTwo-door coupes, two-door convertibles, and ‘Gran Coupe’ fastbacks.INR 1.3 crores – INR 1.62 crores
X Series SUV The X series includes: X1X2X3 X4 X5X6X7XMINR 49.50 – INR 2.6 crores
Z seriesThe current model is 2-door roadster Z4Starts at INR 90 lakhs
iModelsThese are electric models and plug-in hybrid cars sold under the BMW i brand. Models include i3 D segment, i4 D segment, i5 D segment, and much more.INR 66.7 lakhs – INR 1.20 crores.
BMW M Models These are high-performance versions of BMW from 1978NR 1.30 Crores 

Motorcycles

Sport Model Superbikes of BMW and manufactured in 2023Starts from INR 2 lakhs.
M ModelManufactured in 2023 The starting price is INR 49 lakhs.
Tour SeriesMost recently manufactured in 2025 The starting price is INR 3 lakhs and can go up to INR 25 lakhs.
Roadster SeriesEconomically manufactured in 2023The starting price is INR 49 lakhs
Heritage SeriesSuperbikes in 2023 The starting price is INR 3 lakhs and can go up to INR 25 lakhs.
Adventure SeriesBuilt with a lot of power The starting price is INR 23 lakhs.

Conclusion 

Despite facing numerous challenges and obstacles, BMW Group has successfully maintained its position as a leading player in the luxury car segment. This, of course, does not mean that the company did not have its fair share of criticism and controversy. It had everything, but it still came out successful as one of the most popular and expensive cars in the 21st century.

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