BMW: 100 years of innovation on the road

Cars have no propellers, but this is precisely what a luxury car brand from Germany, sports on its emblem. The propeller harks back to the days, 100 years ago, when this company used to make airplanes or more precisely, aircraft engines.

Now known worldwide as BMW or Bavarian Motor Works, the company is the world's leading luxury automotive brand. In June 2012, BMW was listed as the most reputable company in the world by Forbes.com, though in 2016 it was beaten into second place by Swiss watch maker Rolex.

It makes cars under the own brand BMW, MINI and Rolls Royce brands. Its BMW i sub brand is exclusively used for electric cars. MINI was the only brand retained by BMW when it sold off the troubled Rover division. BMW also makes motorcycles and scooters through a separate division and also owned the motorcycle brand Husqvarna for a few years.

World War II

The company, headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, was founded in March 1916. BMW started as an aircraft engine maker but it was forced to ease production following the end of World War I and the Versailles Armistice Treaty. The company first made motorcycles and then shifted to automobiles by 1928.

However, with the onset of World War II BMW again began to manufacture aircraft engines for the Luftwaffe. Among its successful World War II engine designs were the BMW 132 and 801 air-cooled radial engines and the pioneering 003 Axial-Flow Turbojet, which powered the 1944-1945-era jet-powered 'emergency fighter', the Heinkel Spatz. The first-ever four-engine jet aircraft ever flown were the sixth and eighth prototypes of the Arado AR 234 jet reconnaissance-bomber, which used BMW 003 jet engines. By 1958, the automotive division of BMW was in financial difficulties and a shareholders' meeting was held on the future course of action available to BMW. It bought the rights to manufacture the Italian Iso Isetta mini car. BMW's version of the tiny cars was to be powered by a modified form of BMW's motorcycle engine and it became quite a success. Since 1959, the controlling majority shareholder of BMW has been the Quandt family, which owns about 46% of the available stock.

Today, apart from the factories and facilities in Germany, BMW has factories and assembly plants in USA, UK, India, Thailand, China, Malaysia, Indonesia and several other countries. A number of non-BMW contract manufacturers such as Magna Steyr of Austria also make BMW and MINI vehicles. Rolls Royce cars (a separate company from Rolls Royce aircraft engines) are made in the UK while all motorcycles are made in Germany.

In 2015, BMW plants worldwide produced more than two million vehicles (one million of them in Germany) in left and right hand drive with petrol or diesel engines. Around 300,000 MINI cars enter the roads each year. Rolls Royce makes about 4,000 cars a year.

To ensure the German plant meets future demands in the long term, the BMW Group will invest over one billion euro in the existing sites during the next few years.

BMW has an interesting line up from cars to SUVs. Starting with the baby 1 Series, BMW offers the 2 Series, 3 Series, 4 series, 5 Series, 6 Series and the super luxury 7 Series.

Hybrids

Hybrid versions of the 3, 5 and 7 Series are also available. High performance M versions are also available for some cars, specially the iconic M5. It also has a line of SUVs denoted by the X symbol - X1, X3 and X5 are examples. BMW also offers the Z4 Coupe. In addition to the line of electric vehicles, a few Plug in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) are offered, including the 2 Series, 3 Series and X5, which is becoming popular here.

The MINI range consists of the MINI 3-Door, 5 door, Countryman, Paceman, Convertible and Clubman models. The three door can be specified as a High Performance John Cooper Works model. Rolls Royce has four models - Phantom, Ghost, Wraith and Dawn.

During 2015 BMW sold 2.25 million cars (BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce), an increase of 6.1% over the prior year. BMW has also sold 150,000 motorcycles during the past year, an increase of 13% YOY. BMW grossed a revenue of US$ 104 billion in 2015, which was an increase of 15% over 2014.

BMW's net income grew to US$ 7.3 billion last year, which equals a healthy 7% profit margin. BMW's new CEO is Harold Krueger. BMW's biggest competitors are both German - Mercedes Benz and Audi, followed by Jaguar (UK) and Volvo (Sweden).

New concept car

BMW recently presented a new concept car called Vision Next 100, an autonomous car that can also be driven when the driver wants, to mark its 100th anniversary.

BMW hopes this car will be on the roads by March 2116, when BMW marks its 200th anniversary. After all, with BMW advertising its cars as 'Ultimate Driving Machines' it does not leave a very good impression if the driver is taken out of the equation altogether.

The Vision Next 100 is designed around two driving modes: 'Boost' and 'Ease'. In Boost mode the driver is in control, while in Ease mode the steering wheel and centre console retract, the seats swivel to allow the driver and passengers to chat, and the car takes over the driving. The trademark 'kidney' grille remains, in supersized and illuminated form. It houses a host of sensors to support the autonomous control systems, and its colour changes to let other road users know whether the car is in manual or autonomous mode.

The car is made predominantly from composites, including carbonfibre. Parts of the Vision Next 100's interior architecture are designed to change shape, using a system BMW calls 'Alive Geometry;' 800 moving triangles set into the instrument panel move in various choreographed ways, described as being similar to a flock of birds in flight, gesturing information to the driver's peripheral vision in tandem with the head-up display.

Replacing conventional instruments and screens, the entire windscreen becomes a giant display. In manual 'Boost' mode, graphics show the ideal line through a corner, entry speed and steering angle - a bit like playing a computer game on 'beginner mode.'

Graphics can also indicate hazards approaching in low-vision conditions, such as fog, or turn into a tour guide in Ease mode, highlighting buildings sand landmarks of interest as the car passes by.

But if you want something tight now to mark BMW's centenary, try to grab an all-new BMW Individual M760Li X Drive V12 7 Series car named 'The Next 100 Years' which comes with a free, highly coveted tailor-made for BMW Mont Blanc pen.

Incidentally, Mont Blanc itself is more than a century old. Only 100 cars (and a very few in RHD) will be made and each one is powered by the 6.6-litre V12 developing 602 bhp. The car can accelerate from 0 to 100 kmph in a mere 3.7 seconds.

BMW has been officially present in Sri Lanka since the late 1980s through its sole importer Prestige Automobiles Limited. It recently became only the second distributor in this part of Asia (after Singapore) to market the BMW i3 and i8 vehicles. It is also the official importer for MINI vehicles.