Photo: BMW
It was 1916 when BMW was founded and 1918 when its first production site started actually manufacturing stuff, initially for a completely different purpose than what we expect from the German giant today.
Nearly a century later, part of that original building still stands in the Milbertshofen district of Munich, on Moosacher Strasse. Seeing an opportunity to claim back its original birthplace, the Bavarians quickly jumped to buy it and restore it to its rightful owner.
Over the years, the 13,000 square meters property went into the ownership of Knorr-Bremse AG that became the world’s leading manufacturer of braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles and now it’s going back to the white and blue roundel company.
Located in the near proximity of BMW’s current headquarters, plant and Museum, the new property will soon become the home of BMW Group Classic, the division that takes care of the heritage of all three brands owned by the Germans, including Mini and Rolls-Royce.
Amongst the facilities that will be built there, fans of the aforementioned brands will get to visit a classic workshop, a customer centre (that will be providing parts for vintage and classic models), the BMW company archive and a collection of classic cars.
The company we’ve all grown to love today went through a lot of problems before becoming the successful story it is today. Initially setting up to build airplane engines, the company was located on the location we’re talking about here. However, troubling economic times demanded that they sell the 13,000 square feet property to move to another location that would allow them to vary their production.
That’s how they ended up on today’s address, on Lerchenauer Strasse, where they started building engines for trucks, cars, motorcycles and even boats, anything they could get their hands on just to stay afloat. It was 1920.
Of course, the second World War came by a few years later and the company, again, had to refocus, building pots and pans throughout the whole ordeal, just to keep part of the workers employed and return some profits so that they don’t go into bankruptcy (I’d love to own a pot made by BMW).
Another decisive moment was immediately after the war, when BMW started making small, cheap cars to get it’s business going again. However, despite their best efforts, without the help of Mr. Herbert Diess, they might’ve ended up under Daimler’s ownership and the whole inter-brand war we see today from the biggest German manufacturers would’ve never happened. Happily, though, Mr Diess made the right decision and, today, his family controls the second most valuable automotive brand in the world.
Over the years, the 13,000 square meters property went into the ownership of Knorr-Bremse AG that became the world’s leading manufacturer of braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles and now it’s going back to the white and blue roundel company.
Located in the near proximity of BMW’s current headquarters, plant and Museum, the new property will soon become the home of BMW Group Classic, the division that takes care of the heritage of all three brands owned by the Germans, including Mini and Rolls-Royce.
Amongst the facilities that will be built there, fans of the aforementioned brands will get to visit a classic workshop, a customer centre (that will be providing parts for vintage and classic models), the BMW company archive and a collection of classic cars.
The company we’ve all grown to love today went through a lot of problems before becoming the successful story it is today. Initially setting up to build airplane engines, the company was located on the location we’re talking about here. However, troubling economic times demanded that they sell the 13,000 square feet property to move to another location that would allow them to vary their production.
That’s how they ended up on today’s address, on Lerchenauer Strasse, where they started building engines for trucks, cars, motorcycles and even boats, anything they could get their hands on just to stay afloat. It was 1920.
Of course, the second World War came by a few years later and the company, again, had to refocus, building pots and pans throughout the whole ordeal, just to keep part of the workers employed and return some profits so that they don’t go into bankruptcy (I’d love to own a pot made by BMW).
Another decisive moment was immediately after the war, when BMW started making small, cheap cars to get it’s business going again. However, despite their best efforts, without the help of Mr. Herbert Diess, they might’ve ended up under Daimler’s ownership and the whole inter-brand war we see today from the biggest German manufacturers would’ve never happened. Happily, though, Mr Diess made the right decision and, today, his family controls the second most valuable automotive brand in the world.
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