The BMW Story

Video Statistics and Information

Video
Captions Word Cloud
Reddit Comments
Captions
[music] BMW have been making vehicles in one shape or another for 100 years. They’ve gone through many directions, but they’ve found their niche in creating sporty luxury cars. Yes, there have been the odd hiccup along the way, but it’s their relentless desire to be the best that has got them there – and I know from personal experience, I’ve worked for one of their many suppliers! For the customers this means a large range of dependable cars that keep getting better. You might remember Steve Saxty produced a series of award-winning books exploring Ford design. He’s now turned his attention to BMW with a new three book series. They’re chock full of stories and designs from the vaults – BMW have given him unprecedented access. So, if you want to know more about BMW’s history from a design perspective, maybe take a look at them - there’s a link in the description. So, just what were those bumps in the road to BMW’s dominance, and how did they get to dominate the luxury market? This is the BMW Story. [music] The first BMW branded product was the BMW IIIa aircraft engine, produced at the height of the First World War. But after the war Germany was banned from producing aircraft which meant the company had to shift gears. A natural next step was to manufacture motorcycle engines. Despite bankruptcy in 1918 the company persevered, taking work as a brake manufacturer to pay the bills. The first BMW motorcycle, the R32 launched in 1923. The companies finances improved, and in 1928 they purchased a car company that was already manufacturing British Austins under license. So, the first BMW automobile ever made was the BMW 3/15, a version of the Austin 7. In 1932 BMW produced their first car – the 3/20. It might be BMW designed, but underneath there were still a lot of Austin 7 influences. A year later the BMW 303 made its appearance with the company’s new 6-cylinder engine. It was also BMW’s first car to feature the now familiar kidney grille, and if you’re frustrated with the recent trend for comically large grilles, just take a look at this one! In recent years BMW’s positioned itself as “the ultimate driving machine”, but the original “3 series” was criticised as being underpowered with a top speed of only 56mph (90 km/h) and it handled like a dog. But at least it was good value. The 303 would get smaller and larger engines, and would also appear as a roadster, but BMWs next car, the saloon 326 would expunge all that driving horribleness. Its roadster sibling, the 328 won at the Nürburgring, and had more than 100 class wins. Various other versions of the car would be produced through the late 1930s as the company flourished. Of course with any story about a German company, we'll have to talk about the rise of the Nazi party and their impact. BMW had originally produced aircraft engines, and the war effort required these in large numbers. Car production would end in 1941 as the war raged and every bit of Germany’s limited resources went towards defeating both the allies and the Russians. BMW aircraft engines such as the 003 jet engine would be produced by forced labour from the nearby Dachau concentration camp. After the war BMWs automotive factories in Eisenach fell in the Soviet controlled zone that would become East Germany. The Soviets seized the assets, restarting production of the 326 derived cars with a BMW badge. In 1949 they launched the BMW 340 that was billed as a new car, but underneath was mostly the existing BMW 326. Meanwhile the BMW company who’d made aircraft engines was in the American controlled city of Munich and production was difficult after their factories had been heavily bombed. There was no market for aircraft engines and the Allies had banned them from producing cars or motorcycles. They survived by making pots and pans. So, the BMW name was being used by two different companies, and the BMW pots and pans company was being asked to deal with warranty claims on BMW cars it didn’t have a hand in producing. Something had to give, and a court in West Germany ruled that if East German BMW wanted to continue to get access to the West German Deutschemark then they had to give up the BMW name. East Germany BMW became EMW, Eisenacher Motorenwerk after the city that they were located. This company would go on to produce the Wartburg that was sold until the 1990s. The Soviets weren’t the only people to produce a car based on the BMW 326. After the war, representatives from the British Bristol Aeroplane Company took the plans as they owned a company that already held a licence to produce BMW cars. They would in turn produce the Bristol 400, a car that was based heavily on the BMW 326. BMW in Munich needed to produce more than just pots and pans. The Allies relaxed restrictions and BMW returned to making motorcycles. But their eyes were firmly set on once again making cars. But what type of car? They entertained the idea of producing cars from Ford or Simca under license, but their ultimate goal of course was to get back to creating their own cars. Some felt BMW should go after the luxury market, some an entry level mass market car like the Beetle. After all – Germans didn’t have a lot of money, so surely inexpensive transport made sense? The BMW 531 prototype was built using their 750cc motorcycle engine. On one level this kind of car made sense, but a mass market car requires a mass market factory and that costs a lot of money. Plus there was more profit in the luxury end, and there were plenty of people in Europe who’d been unable to spend during the war and were ready to splurge. So, BMW created the 501 that launched at the 1951 Frankfurt Motor Show. It was less expensive than the Mercedes-Benz 220, but it also wasn’t as good. Production issues plagued the company, but that was masked by weak sales of the “Baroque angel” as some unkindly called it. Sales did pick up once they dropped the price and added a V8 engine though. New models such as the 503 coupé and the beautiful 507 convertible should have improved finances, but they ended up costing double the intended amount and failed to sell in any quantity. Clearly BMW needed another car to prevent bankruptcy. They revisited the ideas of building a car under license, and offering an entry level car. Germans could afford motorcycles but wanted to be protected from the elements, so BMW licenced the three wheeled Isetta bubble car from Italian company Iso and added their own motorcycle engine. It launched in 1955, and a larger four wheel and four seat model, the BMW 600 appeared in 1957. There was even a British version produced by Dunsfold Tools. The Isetta had been designed with the driver sitting on the left – the engine had been put on the opposite side as a counterweight. That didn’t work in the UK, so when the steering wheel was put on the opposite side, a 27kg (60lb) counterweight had to be added to the other side, making the car slower. To make matters worse, the German electrics were replaced by Lucas – the prince of darkness. Understandably, it didn’t sell very well. The 1950s bubble car fad would end up being a bubble, and soon consumers wanted a real car, not something Noddy drove. But the Isetta kept the lights on in BMWs Munich factory, just, while the company regrouped to design their next car. That would come in 1959 – the BMW 700. Thankfully it looked like a regular car, and an up to date stylish one at that, thanks to Giovanni Michelotti. The 25,000 orders at its launch were music to BMW’s ears – finances were so bad its own board had been recommending selling the company to Daimler-Benz. The 700 was the car that saved BMW as an independent company. It also helped to finance a much more important vehicle. It was tempting to continue producing small cars with their range of small motorcycle engines – but it didn’t make economic sense. BMW decided to leave entry level cars behind and produce another luxury car with higher profit margins. This time they wouldn’t look back. A prototype of a car dubbed the Neue Klasse or New Class was unveiled in 1961. Designed by Wilhelm Hofmeister, it got a small kink in the rear window that has forever been known as the Hofmeister kink and is now a BMW design feature. The look is instantly recognisable as a BMW which shows just how influential this car has been to the brand. It was designed to fit in between the entry level 700 and the 501 that was updated as the 3200 CS. It featured a new 1.5L 4-cylinder engine that was surprisingly lively. It would eventually grow to 2.0L and was so good it would last in one form or another into the late 1980s. And like the pre-war BMW 327, the handling matched the looks, especially when the coupé arrived in 1965. The public loved them, and BMW was back in the black. BMWs marketing men had identified the world was crying out for a compact executive saloon, so it made sense to produce a new car based on a shortened New Class. It appeared in 1966 as the 02 series that started with a 1.6L engine but soon used a 2.0L engine, sporting the futuristic “2002” number on the boot. It went like something off a shovel. BMW had identified customers related BMW with the race winners from the 1930s, so they played into this, producing fast versions of their cars. The 2002ti used fuel injection to make it heaps of fun. In 1973 it got a turbo. In 1966 BMW absorbed the Hans Glas car company, mainly for their highly qualified staff who could help accelerate the development of new BMW models, although their expertise in timing belts and overhead cams was also a bonus. Existing Hans Glas cars got BMW engines and BMW badges for a few years until they were phased out in 1969. The factory where they were produced was modernised and is now BMWs largest European factory. If you can shorten the New Class chassis, then surely you can stretch it as well? BMW developed a larger 6-cylinder engine, loosely based on the 4-cylinder engine that would fit in the larger car - the New Six. This pioneering exercise in platform reuse was less visionary and more an effort in using what limited funds they had. The new car featured twin headlights that would become another BMW signature feature. There was both a saloon and a coupé, and the new 6-cylinder engine proved to be no slouch, winning the European Touring Car Championship. No wonder then that the UK motorway police bought some to catch speeding motorists. This was a pure driver’s car, so much so that the saloon had miserly rear passenger space. BMWs cars might not yet be seen in the same league as Mercedes-Benz, but they were catching up fast with quality luxury cars aimed at those who loved to drive, and importantly they were doing well in the large North American market. BMW was based in Munich, where the 1972 Olympics were to be held, so they clearly had to do something special. Their first electric car prototype was the 1602 Elektro. Performance-wise it was less New Class Touring car winner, and more milk float on steroids. Many car companies at this time were experimenting with electric power, but battery and motor technology of the day meant these cars were dead ends. The New Class was replaced in 1972 with a car BMW called the 5 series, you may have heard of it! The numbering of BMW cars would now be coordinated – the first number was the size of the car, followed by two digits for the size of the engine, and a letter “i” if it used fuel injection. At launch there were only 4-cylinder engines, but the 6-cylinder would soon make an appearance. The reception from the press was generally good, but some criticised it for unpredictable handling and excessive body roll. We’re not quite up to the introduction of the M5, but in 1974 BMW offered Motorsports models that featured sports upgrades all around. The 02 series was replaced by the 3 series in 1975, using the same family look as the 5 series, although sold exclusively as a two door. The dashboard set the tone for cars to come – a centre console and dashboard angled towards the driver. After all, this was a driver’s car. There wasn’t a turbo version like the previous car, but the car still had respectable performance. There was even a convertible. The 3 series was the company’s top selling car and outsold the poplar 02 series it replaced. A year later BMW replaced the New Six coupé with the 6 series. With sales booming, BMW contracted early 6 series bodies out to coachbuilder Karmann. True to its name, the 6 series would only be powered by BMW’s 6-cylinder engine. In 1977 the 7 series replaced the New Six saloon. Luxury was kicked up a notch with leather and wood, heated front seats, reclining rear seats and power mirrors. It would be one of the first cars to get an on-board computer, and unlike the cutting-edge Aston Martin Lagonda, it was reliable. Another car shown at the 1972 Olympics was the BMW Turbo concept. That gullwing beauty was a pipedream, but BMW would revisit the idea as a homologation special to take the fight to arch-rival Porsche. They entered into an agreement with Lamborghini to produce a sports car, but the Italian carmaker’s poor finances meant the deal collapsed. BMW released it themselves as the mid-engined M1. The 3.5L 6-cylinder high performance engine was all new and it used a fibre glass body to save weight. Inside BMW added a little luxury, but some parts of this track car couldn’t be hidden, such as the fixed driver’s seat. Only 453 would be made, making it one of BMW’s rarest cars. The 1980s saw new versions of the 3, 5 and 7 series. Sales grew as BMW’s cars were seen in the same light as Mercedes-Benz. The M1 led BMW to offer the M535i in 1980 and soon the M5 was born, joined by the M3. The 3 series got four doors, a coupé, an estate and a diesel engine if that was your thing. It would even get all-wheel drive. The new 7 series got adaptive suspension, and new V8 and 5.0L V12 engines to help it compete with the Mercedes S-Class. McLaren chose BMW’s V12 for their 1990s F1 supercar – high praise indeed! By now even large cars like the 7 series that had historically sold in small numbers were selling over 300,000 cars over their life. The third generation of the 5 series appeared in 1987 where it got all-wheel drive and the 7 series’ V8 engine, and for the first time there was an estate. The 6 series ended production, but BMW produced a new open top, the Z1 that was based on the 3 series. I have a whole video on that car, so if you want to know more, click on the link above. The 8 series wasn’t seen as a replacement for the 6 series even though it looked similar. It offered much higher performance, with those V8 and V12 engines. The 8 series also showed the lessons BMW had learned in aerodynamics, getting a 0.29 drag coefficient. The global recession hurt sales and an M8 version that would have been Ferrari competitor was cancelled, but Alpina, who had a good business souping up stock BMWs gave the already sprightly 8 series even more pep. The Z1 and 8 series were the first disappointments since the 501 40 years earlier. The 8 series wouldn’t have a successor, but the Z1 would lead to the Z3 convertible, based on the 3 series platform and gunning for the market the Mazda MX-5 was owning. It was also the first BMW produced entirely outside Germany, at their new USA factory. Later on it would get a 6-cylinder engine and be reworked as a coupé. There was even a V12 prototype! The next generation would be renamed the Z4. BMW also created a high end roadster, the Z8 in 1998 designed to evoke the classic 507 that had sold so badly in the 1950s. To promote the car to collectors, BMW stockpiled 50 years’ of spare parts. BMWs continued to sell well. So well in fact that money was burning a hole in their pocket. By the 1990s the three way fight between BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen/Audi was intensifying. Whatever one did, the others had to beat. Volkswagen produced increasingly good luxury cars through Audi, but they had mass market cars as well. Mercedes were looking to enter the mass market with the A Class, which incidentally I’ve also covered, and they would go further by merging with Chrysler. New car designs were getting more and more expensive with higher safety and quality considerations, so car companies were sharing platforms across their range. Making a profit with luxury cars was also getting worse by new competition such as Lexus. BMW had to up their game and lower their prices. They’d taken baby steps towards the mass market with the 3 series compact, they'd created the Z11, E2, Z13 and Z15 prototypes, but they could see themselves being outmanoeuvred by their rivals. Maybe it was BMWs tie in with the most British of film franchises, James Bond, but they dove right into the mass market by buying British carmaker Rover, the company that had created the first car BMW had ever produced, the Austin 7. Rover were effectively engaged to Honda at the time, so that messy relationship had to be unravelled, like two partners splitting up their CD collection. That proved manageable, but what BMW couldn’t manage was turning around Rover’s fortunes. BMW invested a lot of money to create a new version of the Mini, a new luxury saloon – the Rover 75 and work began on a new smaller saloon, but the ink on the balance sheet was blood red and Rover’s malaise was starting to impact BMWs bottom line as well. It all ended with a quickie divorce, leaving BMW financially worse for wear and Rover with little future, wishing it had ended up tying the knot with Honda. One of the bright points of the Rover acquisition was getting control of Land Rover, makers of the Range Rover. That too would cost a lot to fix, and would end up being sold to Ford, but the Range Rover’s technology and parts were used for BMWs first foray into the lucrative luxury SUV market, the X5, another car I’ve done a video on. It broke all the SUV rules by ditching the traditional ladder frame chassis that gave SUVs such good off-roading skills, but made road handling awful, and that would never do for “the ultimate driving machine”. BMW instead went for a family car with bags of space and a commanding driving position. After all, that’s why most customers were buying this type of car. The success of the X5 meant it was joined by the smaller X3 in 2003, based on the 3-series platform. BMW was keen to market these cars as “Sport Activity Vehicles” rather than a Sport Utility Vehicles or SUVs, but they were happy enough to receive the award as the Canadian SUV car of the year in 2005! Although it might have won awards, the X3 was criticised for a harsh ride and austere interior. Customers didn’t seem to mind though, and BMW caught the public’s mood for taller vehicles at just the right time. BMW had snapped up the Rolls-Royce brand in 1998 after Volkswagen had missed out. They’d bought the Rolls Royce factory and Bentley name but omitting to get the rights to the Rolls-Royce brand. BMW’s first car was the Rolls-Royce Phantom, produced at an all-new facility near Goodwood in the UK. Like previous Rolls Royce cars, it used BMW’s V12 engine. Of course BMW hadn’t given up on the mass market. They’d retained the Mini from the Rover debacle, and in 2004 launched the diminutive 1 series. It used the platform from the X3 that would also be shared by the upcoming 5th generation 3 series. There was talk of adapting the body to make a coupé, a saloon, an estate, and even a dinky convertible. Reviewers found the car great to drive, but expensive and not that practical with the large entry level 1.6L engine mounted longitudinally that meant half the car was the bonnet, a bit like Mercedes’ small car concept from 1980. BMW was branching out in all new directions – it produced the innovative C1 motorcycle in 2000, but it hadn’t forgotten its saloons that had brought it such success. The 2001 7 series showed off a new design direction, plus the introduction of the iDrive spinny wheel of doom. Reviewers were shocked at the size of the kidney grille. Ah, such simpler times! The 6 series large coupé was back using the platform of the upcoming 5th generation 5 series. BMW also offered a convertible. But the smart money was in SUVs, sorry, Sport Activity Vehicles. With the low sloping roof and number 6 on the back, was the X6 meant to be an off-roading coupé? It provided poor accommodation for rear passengers, just like its cars in the 1960s, but it didn’t provide the driving thrills those cars offered. Sales were, let’s say “niche”, but BMW have kept making it across three generations and counting. Maybe the new tiny X1 would be better? It was certainly more practical, and inside it looked like a shrunken X5. But look a little closer and you’d find BMW had gone cheap on the materials. They’d also given up on the idea this was any kind of off-roader – the X1 was available with sDrive, that’s BMW’s marketing speak for 2-wheel drive. Regardless, the X1 graced many a proud owner’s driveway. In 1972 BMW had shown off its vision of an electric car. They’d dabbled with hydrogen power in 2001, but by the 2010s electric power was back and BMW wanted skin in the game. The problem with any EV was giving it a decent range while not weighing it down with a ton of batteries which cost a small fortune. BMWs solution was the i3. It used an innovative carbon fibre platform and ultra-thin seats to help save weight and so improve the range, and they offered an optional 650cc engine and fuel tank to offer additional range if needed. Instant electric power meant it could beat an M3 to 30mph (50 km/h) and get to 60 in just over 7 seconds. It seemed a good all-rounder, and initially customers seemed to agree – it was the third highest selling EV by 2016. But given EV sales were tiny at this point, that wasn’t saying much. BMW had a goal of 30,000 annual sales, but it took until 2017 before that happened. Maybe it wasn’t as practical a car in reality. The i3 had about the same range as a Nissan Leaf – 80 miles (129 km), and the small fuel tank meant the range extender only doubled that range. That’s a lot of trips to a recharger and/or a petrol station for anything more than a trip around town. And it had less space inside than a Ford Fiesta. Customer demand never grew much beyond 30,000 a year and BMW pulled the plug on the electric i3 in 2022. BMW’s second “i” model was very different, the i8 sports car. It used an electric motor up front and a 3 cylinder MINI engine to drive the rear wheels, giving it more better acceleration than a Porsche 911 Carrera S. Maybe worrying petrolheads would bemoan the lack of a V8 burble, BMW piped an enhanced version of the 3-cylinder engine’s sound through the speakers, but it really wasn’t the same. As an EV alone it had just a 22 mile (35 km) range, so it was less an EV and more a plug-in hybrid. But it was high on innovation and gave BMW experience in new technologies that it would exploit in future cars. BMW had been turning their saloons into coupés for decades, and the did the same for the 1 series, calling it the 2 series. The old 3 series coupé became the 4 series and both cars would be turned into convertibles. The 4 and 6 series also got an option of a “Gran Coupé” fastback style with four doors. Then of course there were the obligatory M models. Just when the rest of the car industry was moving away from MPVs, BMW presented the 2 series Active Tourer and the stretched Gran Tourer with 7 seats. These were a bit of a departure for BMW – they were their first cars with front wheel drive. There was a good reason for this – underneath they used the MINI platform. This meant they weren’t anything close to being a driver’s car, but provided small car practicality with a bit of luxury. By now there really was a BMW to suit any taste. The German carmaker had a luxury line-up that went from small car luxury with eco credentials all the way up to a large luxury grand tourer or an SUV. And that range grew ever larger with the X4 that launched in 2014. It was essentially a smaller version of the odd X6 off-roading coupé. Some might argue it was simply a version of the X3 with an impractical body and no rear visibility. It seems enough people wanted this sort of thing because a second generation model came along in 2018. The 2 series had the Active Tourer and the Gran Tourer, but there wasn’t an X version. That was corrected in 2018. After all, 1 in every 3 cars BMW made had an X badge. Maybe BMW’s primary motivation was matching their competition, it went up against the Audi Q3 and Mercedes GLA. Both the X4 and the X2 might look sportier than the X1, but entry level models relied on 3-cylinder engines to save fuel around town. It was also less practical, with rear doors that made it harder to get people or car seats in and out, and it cost more than the X1. Just who was this car made for? The 8 series made a comeback in 2018 as a replacement for the 6 series. It was essentially a coupé and convertible version of the 7 series, designed to take on the Mercedes S class coupé. Oddly enough reviewers who had decried the iDrive wheel of doom when it launched, were now happy that BMW had kept it whereas Audi had dropped it in favour of just touchscreens. America in particular loved its large SUVs, so BMW needed something larger than the X5. They launched the X7 in 2019, something to take on the Range Rover, a car BMW had helped craft in the 1990s. It had all the same high-class luxury that BMW offered in its other premium cars. They even unveiled a pickup version as a concept. A BMW pick up? Whatever next?!? By 2019 BMW’s shareholders were once more starting to question the company’s direction. Profit margins were less than half they were in 2011 despite record sales. BMW used to be the cool car company compared to the more staid Mercedes, but it wasn’t BMW who kept winning Formula 1 titles, and Mercedes were now the trendier choice. BMW fought back. Tesla was the luxury EV on everyone’s lips, so BMW announced they would release 25 new electric & hybrid vehicles by 2023. The first of these would be the iX3 in 2020, followed by the iX, the i4, i7, iX1 and the iX2. Most of these were existing models with the transmission and fuel tank swapped out for a motor and batteries, but the iX was an exception – an all new technology flagship the same size as the X5. It offered more interior space than the X5, being built from the ground up as an EV, using a new aluminium and carbon fibre platform that borrowed a few tricks from the i3. The front of the car used a self-healing polyurethane to allow the sensors behind it to “see” even if the car was scratched, and BMW included heating elements in case it got frosted over. It also included a stupidly large kidney grille! Where the i8 enhanced the sound of its 3-cylinder engine through the speakers, the iX piped through a symphonic sound created by Hans Zimmer, creator of scores for films such as Gladiator and Dune. For BMWs next car, Citroën graciously agreed that they could use the same name as one of their most iconic models – the Citroën XM. The BMW XM launched in 2022 and was a rare beast for the time – it had an internal combustion engine. It was only the second car released by BMWs M division, the first being the M1 way back in 1978. As such it was meant to be a small volume, very fast exclusive. Like the i8 it combined internal combustion and batteries for even more power, but the XM had the choice of much large 6 or 8-cylinder engines. This gave this large heavy car a 0-60 time under 4 seconds. Reviewers loved the luxury, but thought other M models provided more fun, and cost a lot less. In 1972 BMW launched maybe their most famous car, the 5 series, and 50 years later they unveiled the 8th iteration. It had twin headlights, it had a Hoffmeister kink, it had the kidney grille and it had the range of 4 and 6 cylinder engines. But this car also had the option of a mild hybrid, plug in hybrid or a full on EV. What a difference 50 years can make. In fact, what a difference 100 years can make. The i5 and BMWs first motorcycle are a century and worlds apart. There have been problems for the company along the way, but since the 1960s BMW has found the path to profit – producing luxury cars that people want. As standards of living have risen their customer base has grown, and BMW, like their German rivals, have managed to keep the caché of their brand whilst producing smaller and cheaper cars. In the 1980s customers were put off the Ford Granada because it had the same badge as the Fiesta. Yet customers are happy paying £175,000 ($220k USD, €204k, $337k AUD) for an XM whilst rubbing shoulder in the showroom with someone buying a 1 series for less than £30,000 ($36k USD, €34k, $56k AUD). BMW have moved away from only making true driver’s cars. Some still give thrills, but they’re complicated by a myriad of settings on large touchscreens that take away from the pure driving enjoyment. Many models don’t offer much fun, and in my experience that includes cars like the entry level 3 series. You’ll need to buy the M versions if you’re a “real” petrolhead, and some of those cost the same as a house. But maybe I’m being too hard on BMW. After all, their cars are wildly popular around the world. BMW makes attractive cars that people want and a range to satisfy every desire. The Z1 was one of BMWs most innovative cars, with doors that slid away into the floor. Check out its story on the right, or that of the BMW X5. And don’t forget Steve’s excellent book on how BMW has styled its beautiful cars. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next video.
Info
Channel: Big Car
Views: 221,762
Rating: undefined out of 5
Keywords: bmw story
Id: YQR4s3kcojU
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 34min 23sec (2063 seconds)
Published: Fri Mar 15 2024
Related Videos
Note
Please note that this website is currently a work in progress! Lots of interesting data and statistics to come.