BMW was established as a business entity following a
restructuring of the Rapp Motorenwerke aircraft
manufacturing firm in 1917. After the end of World War I
in 1918, BMW was forced to cease aircraft engine production by the terms of the
Versailles Armistice Treaty.[4] The company
consequently shifted to motorcycle production in 1923, once the restrictions of
the treaty started to be lifted,[5] followed by
automobiles in 1928–29.[6][7][8]
The first car which BMW successfully produced and the car which launched BMW
on the road to automobile production was the Dixi, it was
based on the Austin
7 and licensed from the Austin Motor Company in Birmingham, England.
The circular blue and white BMW logo or roundel
evolved from the circular Rapp
Motorenwerke company logo, from which the BMW company grew, combined with
the blue and white colors of the flag
of Bavaria.[9]
The logo has been portrayed as the movement of an aircraft propeller with the
white blades cutting through a blue sky — first used in a BMW advertisement in
1929, twelve years after the roundel was created — but this is not the origin
of the logo itself.[10]
BMW's first significant aircraft engine was the BMW IIIa inline-six
liquid-cooled engine of 1918, much preferred for its high-altitude performance.[11] With German
rearmament in the 1930s, the company again began producing aircraft engines for
the Luftwaffe.
Among its successful World War II engine designs were the BMW 132 and BMW 801
air-cooled radial engines, and the pioneering BMW 003 axial-flow
turbojet,
which powered the tiny, 1944-1945-era jet-powered "emergency
fighter", the Heinkel He 162 Spatz. The BMW 003 jet engine
was tested in the A-1b version of the world's first jet fighter, the Messerschmitt Me 262, but BMW engines failed
on takeoff, a major setback for the jet fighter program until successful
testing with Junkers engines.[12][13]
By the year 1959, the automotive division of BMW was in financial
difficulties and a shareholders meeting was held to decide whether to go into
liquidation or find a way of carrying on. It was decided to carry on and to try
to cash in on the current economy car boom enjoyed so successfully by some of
Germany's ex-aircraft manufacturers such as Messerschmitt
and Heinkel.
The rights to manufacture the Italian Iso Isetta were
bought; the tiny cars themselves were to be powered by a modified form of BMW's
own motorcycle engine. This was moderately successful and helped the company
get back on its feet. The controlling majority shareholder of the BMW Aktiengesellschaft
since 1959 is the Quandt family, which owns about 46% of the stock. The rest is
in public
float.
BMW acquired the Hans Glas company based in Dingolfing,
Germany, in 1966. It was reputed that the acquisition was mainly to gain access
to Glas' development of the timing belt with an overhead camshaft in automotive
applications.[14]
Glas vehicles were briefly badged as BMW until the company was fully absorbed.
In 1992, BMW acquired a large stake in California based industrial
design studio DesignworksUSA, which they fully acquired in 1995. In
1994, BMW bought the British Rover Group[15] (which at
the time consisted of the Rover, Land Rover and MG brands
as well as the rights to defunct brands including Austin and Morris),
and owned it for six years. By 2000, Rover was incurring huge losses and BMW
decided to sell the combine. The MG and Rover brands were sold to the Phoenix
Consortium to form MG Rover, while Land Rover was taken over by Ford. BMW, meanwhile, retained the rights to
build the new Mini,
which was launched in 2001.
Chief designer Chris Bangle announced his departure from BMW in
February 2009, after serving on the design team for nearly seventeen years.[16] He was
replaced by Adrian van Hooydonk, Bangle's former right hand
man. Bangle was known for his radical designs such as the 2002 7-Series and the
2002 Z4. In July 2007, the production rights for Husqvarna Motorcycles was purchased by BMW
for a reported 93 million euros. BMW
Motorrad plans to continue operating Husqvarna Motorcycles as a separate
enterprise. All development, sales and production activities, as well as the
current workforce, have remained in place at its present location at Varese.
In June 2012, BMW was listed as the #1 most reputable company in the world
by Forbes.com.[17]
Rankings are based upon aspects such as “people’s willingness to buy,
recommend, work for, and invest in a company is driven 60% by their perceptions
of the company and only 40% by their perceptions of their products.”
Rabu, 03 Oktober 2012
History BMW
Langganan:
Posting Komentar (Atom)
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar