History BMW

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW), a German manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles and engines. Based in Munich, Germany, the company is a leading exporter of cars in Europe. English name of the company is the Bavarian Motor Works. The company traces its origin to 1913, when the name of the Bavarian Karl Rapp began aircraft engine shop in Munich called Rapp Motoren Werke. In 1917 Rapp resigned and the company, headed by Austrian engineer Franz-Josef Popp, changed its name to Bayerische Motoren Werke. In the same year, the chief engineer Max "Friz" designed by the first aircraft engine, six cylinders Type IIIa, creating strong demand for BMW engines. After the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 banned German companies from the production of aircraft and aircraft engines, BMW turned to the air brakes of the railway cars. In 1923 the company "Friz" introduced the first motorcycle, R32, the model to be held the world speed record for motorcycles for most of the 1930s. In 1928, the company entered the car business by acquiring Fahrzeugwerke Eisenach (Eisenach car factory), a manufacturer of small cars in Eisenach, Germany. In the 1930s BMW began production lines more touring cars and sports cars In presenting their very successful models - 328 sports car in 1936. After World War II, ended in 1945, the coalition forces dismantled a large company. BMW made kitchen and garden equipment and the introduction of new low-cost motorcycle market of Germany in 1948. Company to return to auto production in the 1950s led to a decline in sales. In the 1960s the company moved around destiny focusing on the sports touring sedans and compact cars, and he started to compete with Mercedes-Benz in the luxury car market in Europe and the United States. BMW sales in the United States peaked in 1986, but then fell sharply, partly because of competition from two new luxury cars, Lexus, by Toyota Motor Corporation and Infinity made Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. in 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall led to a sharp increase in car sales in Europe and the 1992 BMW outsold Mercedes-Benz in Europe for the first time. In 1990, BMW formed a joint venture with the British aerospace company Rolls-Royce PLC for the production of aircraft engines for business jets. In 1992 BMW broke ground for a major automotive plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, its first automobile factory in the United States. In 1994, BMW bought 80% of Rover Group, a British manufacturer of small cars, luxury cars, Land Rover and sports cars from British Aerospace PLC. 1.2 billion U.S. USA acquisition brought the company into new markets.