What Does BMW Stand For?
BMW is an iconic brand in the automotive world, with a history that stretches back for over a century. But for all of this popularity, there are a number of aspects of the company that remain a mystery for a lot of people, especially outside of Germany. So we put together this guide to help dispel some of the more mysterious aspects of BMW, including just what BMW stands for.
What Does BMW Stand For?
BMW didn’t start off as BMW. The company was founded in Munich in 1913 as Rapp Motorenwerke, and it didn’t build cars, it made aircraft engines. Aircraft engines were a booming industry at the time, further spurred on by the outbreak of the First World War the following year, and the company grew quickly. The company became so large so quickly that a restructuring was needed, and in 1917 this restructuring also resulted in a name change. The company was now known as Bayerische Motoren Werke, or BMW. Translated to English, the name means Bavarian Motor Works. In 1917, Germany as we know it today was still a fairly young country, having evolved from entirely separate kingdoms to a loose confederation to the German Empire in the space of only a few decades. The modern-day state of Bavaria was still known as the Kingdom of Bavaria at the time, and for many Bavarians, this identity meant more than their identity as Germans. So for a company headquartered in Munich, the capital of Bavaria, the name BMW made a lot of sense.
What Does The BMW Badge Represent?
There is an often-circulated story about the BMW logo (or roundel) that it depicts a stylized white airplane propellor against a blue sky. BMW, having gotten its start as an aircraft engine manufacturer makes this story logical and totally reasonable to believe, but it isn’t actually true. The truth is much simpler, it depicts the blue and white checker pattern of the Bavarian flag, once again leaning into the company’s Bavarian identity.
What Does BMW M Stand For?
BMW expanded to building motorcycles in 1923, and then cars in 1928. But it was the introduction of the New Class models, such as the 2002, that made BMW a global automotive force in the early 1960s. BMW had been racing for some time, but by the late 60s, it was ready to take performance more seriously, and new higher-output engines were developed. In 1972, BMW Motorsport was formed as a subsidiary to handle both BMW’s racing efforts and high-performance road cars. The first road-going model made by this new division was the impossibly cool M1 supercar in 1978, followed by the first M5 in 1980. By 1993, BMW Motorsport had grown so much that a name change was deemed necessary, and Motorsport was shortened to just M.