The German manufacturer revised its logo for online and real-world interactions during the launch of the BMW Model i4, rather than simply appearing at the front of the vehicles. This is an opportunity for us to look back on the iconic symbol in which a legend exists.
Before we continue, it is worth knowing that Rapp Motorenwerke was there before BMW.
This company specialized in the manufacture of aircraft engines, dating from 1913. The business name changed to Bayerische Motoren Werke, or simply BMW, in July 1917.
BMW did not have a logo at the very beginning, as the company did not find it appropriate to have a symbol to distinguish the brand for the public. Not long later, tweaking the Rapp Motorenwerke badge, BMW developed an identifier. The organization holds the inside black circle with the business name.
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The organization has changed the original gold rings and letters to white over the years. The logo took on a skeuomorphic look in 1997 that made it three-dimensional in nature. BMW claims that the new, streamlined emblem is not a symbol for upcoming vehicles other than on the i4 Concept.
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A myth endured for many decades, as the logo grew. Many of you believe the BMW symbol represents an aeroplane’s spinning propeller. The segment blue and white is a nod to the German state of Bavaria flag. However, the colours are inverted (if you read the clockwise roundel), since the legislation there forbids the use of national emblems for logos.
BMW was in the aviation business before producing vehicles and motorcycles. This entered the business of motorcycling with the R32 in 1923. The company’s first car was a licensed copy of the Austin Seven, but it had been producing vehicles designed internally by the early 1930s.
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Until manufacturing automobiles and motorcycles BMW was in the aviation market. In 1923, it entered the motorcycling market with the R32. The company’s first car was a licensed copy of the Austin Seven, but by the early 1930’s it had produced vehicles built internally.
“BMW has long done nothing to dispel the myth,” explains Fred Jakobs of BMW Group Classic. “The interpretation has been commonplace for 90 years, which somehow legitimizes it.”
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