"Iso made its name in the pre-war years building refrigerators and other appliances - but phoenix like, after the great cataclysm, they were best known for producing the Isetta bubble car, which came with double-piston two-stroke engines of 236cc; it "
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BMW: Brand Royalty
Every car company reflects and is a product of the times in which it operates. BMW perhaps more than any on the planet, has evoked the changing fortunes of the nation that gave it birth. We selected some of our favourite moments in the evolution of the BMW brand.
- The BMW consumer is no stranger to Joy. Look how full of it this girl in a seventies 1502 ad is.
- The 02 Cabrio: perfect for contemplating the beauty of the Alps, Wagner on the 8-track
- The architecture of Munich’s Olympic stadium is a leitmotif in the brand’s marketing.3 series evolution in context
- The latest version of the logo, released in 2007, tightens up the render for the 21st century
- The 1917 logo was created to evoke the propellers of an aero engine, in the colours of Bavaria
- This version of the logo, with classic teutonic type, coincided with Hitler’s assumption of power
- In the immediate years after the end of WW1, the company was banned from producing aero engines. This ad from 1925 celebrates the easing of restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles
- A 02 series was produced by BMW as early as 1972. This ad commemorates the event and the 1972 Olympic games
- BMW Motorsport’s heritage is referenced beautifully in the 1994 Logo
- Family values and economy were the most important messages of the fifties campaigns
- The sporty dynamicism of the 5-series were portrayed in the style of American artists like Art Fitzpatrick
- The solid dependability of the BMW motor was always an important message. You can see the functional simplicity of this shot of the 503 engine from the early fifties.
- The gorgeous 507 was the first real venture into Jet Set glamour for the German brand
- Technical as well as aesthetic beauty were the true values of the 507 Cabrio
- Has there ever been a more beautiful German vehicle?
- A new, colourful palette reached out specifically to women for the first time
- The 02 series saloon was meanwhile the perfect small family vehicle
- The touring versions of the 02 broke new ground for mid-size estates
- Era defining saturated colours and dreamy landscapes reached out to the young generation benefitting from the boom time
- The stolid functionality of the fifties was waning by the time the Beatles had left Hamburg
- The most enduring identities in graphic history
- In the 1970s the company’s well-honed motorsport credentials took the company into new consumer territory
- An increasingly confident design ethos took hold on the back of motorsport success. This gullwing concept led eventually to the peerless M1
- The CSL logo would became a totem in itself
- The radical Z1 set the tone toward the new millennium
- The M3 Sport Evolution may have been the most exciting sports saloon to ever reach out of Bavaria
- The world’s first supersaloon?
- The magic of M Power endures with a global audience
- Giugiaro designed the M1 – which raced successfully in the procar series of the early eighties.
- Though never a truly domestic beast, the M1 sold enough for Homologation
- Both its conceptual predecessor and its 2007 ‘homage’ concept were stunning designs
- Never mind the car: check that architecture!
- The 6 series of the 1970s was BMWs truly successful sports coupé
- Dynamic futurism in Bavaria once again
- Sports tech as well as design elements were shared by the 6 series and the M1
- Three wheels, global appeal and cheap costs: the Isetta motored BMWs takeover of the worldwide market
- Jetson-like styling was practically perfect for its era
- The Z car of the turn of the centuries alienated many
- The styling evoked the 1980s, but the subsequent models found their niche
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I always thought BMW stood for Bayerische Motor Works, not Bavarian.
Hi Geoff, you are not wrong
BMW stands (in German) for Bayerische Motoren Werke
Bavarian Motor Works is the English translation,
David
2009/11/20 Disqus <>