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Quick History of BMW in America

Monday, 11. 2. 2009  –  Category: BMW News, Features, Main

By Dennis J James

BMW, or Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, is an example of the oldest carmaker in Europe. BMW has its main headquarters in Germany and it is best know for its high performance autos and motorcycles.

BMW Group includes other brands, such as Mini and the magnificent Rolls-Royce. Before the First World War the BMW factories were producing bicycles and planes (in reality, the BMW trademark is a stylized airplane propeller).

Throughout its history, BMW faced several crisis, among that the First World War, the second World War and a takeover endeavour by Daimler Benz, but it managed to evolve into one of the most renowned and famous carmakers in the world today.

BMW started its automobile production before the WW I with the BMX Dixie. With many of the company’s factories being bombed after the war, BMW started its automobile production once more and many people were of the 1960s and 1970s BMW continued to develop new, more technological advanced vehicles and it is built a name in motorsport with its special competition models.

In fact, due to their achievement in motorsport BMW managed to sell its “civilian” autos, deriving from the contest models. BMW has introduced several technological innovations in their autos, making them some of the most advanced in the planet at that time: the front disk brake, the four-wheel independent suspension.

The company has enlarged its automobile range and in 1972 the first 5 Series was launched, a model to make history for the company. Only two years on, in 1975, BMW launched its smaller model, the 3 Series, followed by the splendid seven Series in 1977. However, BMW failed to only wanted to build cars for the ECU market and wanted to expand its operations worldwide.

BMW entered the American market in the late 1960s with the BMW 2002 sports model. It was a new apparition on the US streets, as it was extremely flexible and it offered good fuel consumption. The BMW 2002 was among the 1st sports sedans on the American market. In the mid 1970s BMW introduced the 3 Series, only 2 months after it has first launched the model in Europe. The 3 Series was a big success in the US, as Yank managed to buy an affordable medium sized sports sedan, a car with a fantastic handling and stability at that point.

BMW continued to extend its auto range to be sold in America and these days all its brands are offered to Yank purchasers: BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce. But BMW did not only sell vehicles in the US, but opened several technology and production plants: they’ve a design office in California, a technology bureau in Silicon Valley and many producing plants, eg, the one South Carolina that is the only plant to make the Z4 model and the American X5. There are around 500 official BMW dealers in the States today. BMW is currently looking to offer more powerful, luxurious automobiles that augment the latest technologies to supply the best gas consumption in their class.

Dennis runs Car Dealer Check a user generated Automotive Dealer Review website that also contains ratings of Automotive Dealers by Make.

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Tags: 3 Series, 5 Series, BMW, bmw 2002, BMW Group, history bmw, MINI, X5, Z4