BMW

November 27th, 2007 by Shenron

BMW is an acronym of one of the world’s most famous car brands that manufactures luxury cars, performance cars, motorcycles, and has several subsidiaries (Mini and Rolls-Royce) and has been in business since 1922, however it can been seen as being older dating back to 1916 with the two founding fathers of the company – Gustav Otto and Karl Rapp, along with three others who actually took BMW and ran with it through many difficulties: Max Friz, Joseph Popp, and finally Camillo Castiglioni. They originally began with engines for aircraft, then moved on to motorbikes and finally automobiles the same year the roaring 20’s came to a crashing end.

Their first crisis came in 1918 with World War I coming to an end, and the demand for parts, motors, and services ceasing immediately causing BMW to shut down. During the forced closure the company (under the stewardship of Popp) went right back to manufacturing consumer goods meant for a non-military market and soon had engine lines for many different things that needed them (you know, boats, cars, motorbike, the whole thing) until brakes became their mainstay, and they almost became wholly owned by the company they manufactured for… but then came Camillo Castiglioni – who bought back the engine making areas and the patents, and the trademark which were considered ‘insignificant’ for a VERY large 75 million marks.

After doing this he (Castiglioni) took his current airplane engine manufacturer BFW and renamed it to BMW, and the rest follows a pretty straightforward path. They got business from the Russians for engines (The Red Army actually), followed by great incomes from this. Friz and Popp secured the future of the company, and then the motorbikes were manufactured – giving BMW a massive amount of fame, followed by automobiles. The Second World War ravaged BMW and lead to a new kind of crisis – the plants were destroyed, the assets in the east were taken by the Soviets, and they were banned from building anything for three years. Finally just as things seemed better 1959 reared its ugly head – they almost were sold to Benz. Instead there was a change in heart, and the man with the chips Herbet Quandt bought 50% of BMW and flipped the company around. Four years later and the company were again in the black. Today they are constantly expanding and growing.