The BMW Century, 2nd Edition

Celebrate more than 100 years of Germany’s best two- and four-wheeled rides. This handsome volume is filled with images, history, and in-depth review of the incredible machines BMW has created year after year.

Established in 1916, BMW is one of the automotive and motorcycle industry’s oldest and most-respected manufacturers. Over the past 100-plus years, the company has passed through myriad incarnations. BMW Centurychronicles this remarkable transportation story through the cars and motorcycles manufactured, from the 1923 R32 motorcycle to today’s sleek electric, hybrid, and high-performance cars.

BMW Century showcases how the company’s visionary team systematically rebuilt BMW in the post-World War II years into the spectacular success we know today—a company with sales in excess of two million cars annually, led by its top-selling 3-series.

BMW’s motorcycle division is no less legendary. It began with the 1923 avant-garde R32, which featured a 180-degree, horizontally opposed twin, the engine configuration that would become BMW’s hallmark. Over the decades, BMW used that configuration to power groundbreaking machines like the R90S, R100RS, and R80GS. Beginning in 1983, the company added add three- and four-cylinder machines to their offerings, culminating in today’s spectacular S1000RR sport bike.

From the pre-war motorcycles to the iconic R-series twins of the 1970s and ’80s to the mighty M-cars and superbikes of today, BMW Century offers a full review of German engineering at its zenith. The book is illustrated generously with hundreds of historic, contemporary, and racing photographs—many sourced from BMW’s historic archives—and thorough text covering BMW’s full history.

This is the one volume no BMW aficionado will want to be without.

Foreword
High Flier from the Start
The Power to Fly
The Power of Six
The Boxer Legend
War and Postwar
Thinking Small
The Quandt Years
Flights of Fancy: BMW’s Concept Cars
The von Kuenheim Years, Part I: Bound for Glory
Power, Performance, and Art
The von Kuenheim Years, Part II: A New Style Emerges
The Boxer and After
The M Cars
Adventure and Misadventure
From Disaster to Dominance
BMW Unlocks the Mini Phenomenon
The Finest Car in the World
Powering through the Downturn
BMW Steers Towards a Sustainable New World
Shock of the New: BMW Launches Into the Electric 2020s
Index
Bibliography and Further Reading
Acknowledgments