A Brief History of BMW
Plenty of Escondido, CA and Escondido Region residents drive BMWs, and there’s a rich history behind the popular car brand. The company was named “Bayerische Motoren Werke” (BMW) in 1922. BMW became an automobile manufacturer when it purchased Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach and the company released its first car, the BMW 3/15. Throughout the 1930s, BMW expanded its range into sports cars and larger luxury cars.
In 1952, after World War II, BMW restarted its motorcycle production and resumed car production with the BMW 501 luxury saloon. BMW’s range of cars was extended again in 1955, but the slow sales of luxury cars and small profit margins from microcars put BMW in serious financial trouble. As a result, 1959, the company was taken over by Daimler-Benz.