History of BMW

Karl Rapp

Franz Popp

     
   Founder of BMW

• Karl Friedrich Rapp was founder and owner of the Rapp Motorenwerke GmbH in Munich. In time this company became BMW AG. He is acknowledged by BMW AG as an indirect founder of the company.
• Franz Josef Popp was one of three men responsible for the founding of BMW AG and the First General Director of BMW AG from 1922 to 1942. A number of different candidates have been put forward as the “founders” of BMW AG.   

Meaning of BMW
Full form of BMW is Bavarian Motor Works.Bavarian is a city which is situated in germany,and BMW started their company at that city,so they in honour of Bavarian city,gave name of his company as a BMW.

Early History of BMW
In 1913 Karl Rapp established Rapp Motorenwerke near the Oberwiesenfeld. Rapp had chosen the site because it was close to Gustav Otto Flugmaschinenfabrik, with whom he had contracts to supply his four-cylinder aircraft engines,
The officer supervising aero-engine building at Austro-Daimler on behalf of the Austrian government was Franz Josef Popp. When it was decided to produce Austro-Daimler engines at Rapp Motorenwerke, Popp was delegated to Munich from Vienna to supervise engine quality.

Popp did not restrict himself to the role of observer, becoming actively involved in the overall management of the company. On 7 March 1916, Rapp Motorenwerke became Bayerische Motoren Werke GmbH. Popp convinced Karl Rapp to accept the application of Max Friz, a young aircraft engine designer and engineer at Daimler. At first Rapp was going to turn down Friz’s request; however, Popp successfully intervened on Friz’s behalf, because he recognized that Rapp Motorenwerke lacked an able designer. Within a few weeks Friz designed a new aircraft engine which, with an innovative carburettor and a variety of other technical details, was superior to any other German aero-engine. Later, this engine would gain world renown under the designation “BMW 
The departure of Karl Rapp in 1917 enabled a fundamental restructuring of BMW GmbH, formerly Rapp Motorenwerke. While the development side was placed under Max Friz, Franz Josef Popp took over the post of Managing Director. Popp held this key position until his retirement in 1942, and was instrumental in shaping the future of BMW.

For the small BMW business, the large orders received from the Reichswehr for the BMW IIIa engine were overwhelming. Under Karl Rapp only a small number of engines had been produced and the manufacturing facilities were not in any way adequate to handle the mass production now required. Not only did BMW lack suitable machine tools but, to a very large degree, skilled manpower as well. However, the most serious drawback was in the small and aging workshops. Nevertheless, under the state-controlled war economy, officials in the relevant ministries were able to give BMW extensive practical support. So in a short time BMW got the skilled workers and machinery it needed. In addition, the Munich company received a high level of financial assistance, which enabled it to build a completely new factory from the ground up, in the immediate vicinity of the old workshops. Due to the share capital being too small, both the building of the new plant and the working capital needed for materials and wages had to be financed with external funds, i.e. bank loans or state assistance. The war ministries of Bavaria and Prussia (then both separate kingdoms within the Kaiser’s Empire) did not, however, wish to go on supporting BMW with loans and guarantees, and therefore urged the flotation of a public limited company.

History about BMW Logo

Bavaria's flag

BMW Logo

Everyone think that BMW logo is just design like all other logos,but actuall BMW logo has it's own story,

White and Blue colour pattern in this logo is actually taken from the FLAG OF BAVARIA CITY,GERMANY.

Fact's about BMW

•  It  owns and produces Mini cars.
• It is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
• In 2010, the BMW group produced 1,481,253 automobiles and 112,271 motorcycles across all its brands. 
• BMW is part of the "German Big 3" luxury automakers, along with Audi and Mercedes-Benz, which are the three best-selling luxury automakers in the world.