motorcycle manufacturer . for other uses see bmw disambiguation . bayerische motoren werke ag bmw headquarters in munich germany type aktiengesellschaft ag traded as fwb bmw industry automotive predecessor rapp motorenwerke bayerische flugzeugwerke ag bfw 1 automobilwerk eisenach founded 7 march 1916 ; 100 years ago 1916 03 07 founder franz josef popp karl rapp camillo castiglioni headquarters munich bavaria germany area served worldwide key people norbert reithofer chairman of the supervisory board harald kr ger chairman of the board of management products luxury vehicles sports cars motorcycles bicycles production output 2 430 507 vehicles 2015 revenue 92.175 billion 2015 2 operating income 9.224 billion 2015 2 profit 6.396 billion 2015 2 total assets 172.174 billion 2015 2 total equity 42.764 billion 2015 2 owner stefan quandt 29 % susanne klatten 21 % public float 50 % number of employees 122 244 2015 2 divisions mini bmw motorsport bmw i bmw motorrad subsidiaries list transportation rolls royce motor cars bmw china bmw brilliance 50 % bmw m bmw of america llc bmw us manufacturing company sports bmw f1 automotive design designworksusa international bmw japan bmw south africa bmw of canada bmw egypt bmw korea bmw australia bmw india website bmw group bmw automobiles bayerische motoren werke ag german pronunciation ba m t n v k listen ; german for bavarian motor works usually known under its abbreviation bmw german pronunciation be m ve listen is a german luxury vehicles motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916 . headquartered in munich bavaria germany . bmw owns mini cars and is the parent company of rolls royce motor cars . bmw produces motorcycles under bmw motorrad and plug in electric cars under the bmw i sub brand and the iperformance model designation within the regular bmw lineup . it is one of the best selling luxury automakers in the world . 3 the company is a component of the euro stoxx 50 stock market index . 4 contents 1 history 2 shareholder structure 3 production 3.1 worldwide sales 3.1.1 china sales 3.2 annual production 4 motorcycles 5 automobiles 5.1 new class 5.2 current models 5.3 m models 6 motorsport 6.1 motorsport sponsoring 6.2 motorcycle 6.3 formula one f1 6.4 sport cars 6.5 touring cars 6.6 rally 7 technology 7.1 bmw connected drive 8 sponsorships 9 environmental record 10 bicycles 11 bmw nomenclature 11.1 exceptions 12 carsharing services 13 light and charge 14 community 14.1 bmw slang 14.2 the arts 14.3 april fools 15 overseas subsidiaries 15.1 brazil 15.2 canada 15.3 china 15.4 egypt 15.5 india 15.6 japan 15.7 mexico 15.8 south africa 15.9 united states 16 marketing 16.1 audio logo 16.2 roundel logo 17 problems 17.1 theft using obd 2012 17.2 connecteddrive 2010 14 18 see also 19 references 20 further reading 21 external links history edit main article history of bmw bmw headquarters in munich . the towers and museum are visible in the back right . bmw isetta with a front opening door bmw model 3 15ps bmw dixi from 1930 bmw 132 engine bmw 801 engine bmw was established as a business entity following a restructuring of the rapp motorenwerke aircraft manufacturing firm in 1917 . after the end of world war i in 1918 bmw was forced to cease aircraft engine production by the terms of the versailles armistice treaty . 5 the company consequently shifted to motorcycle production as the restrictions of the treaty started to be lifted in 1923 6 followed by automobiles in 1928 29 . 7 8 9 the first car which bmw successfully produced and the car which launched bmw on the road to automobile production was the dixi based on the austin 7 and licensed from the austin motor company in birmingham england . bmw s first significant aircraft engine and commercial product of any sort was the bmw iiia inline six liquid cooled engine of 1918 known for good fuel economy and high altitude performance . 10 with german rearmament in the 1930s the company again began producing aircraft engines for the luftwaffe . the factory in munich made ample use of forced labour foreign civilians prisoners of war and inmates of the concentration camp dachau 1 . among its successful world war ii engine designs were the bmw 132 and bmw 801 air cooled radial engines and the pioneering bmw 003 axial flow turbojet which powered the tiny 1944 1945 era jet powered emergency fighter the heinkel he 162 spatz . the bmw 003 jet engine was first tested as a prime power plant in the first prototype of the messerschmitt me 262 the me 262 v1 but in 1942 tests the bmw prototype engines failed on takeoff with only the standby junkers jumo 210 nose mounted piston engine powering it to a safe landing . 11 12 the few me 262 a 1b test examples built used the more developed version of the 003 jet recording an official top speed of 800 km h 497 mph . the first ever four engine jet aircraft ever flown were the sixth and eighth prototypes of the arado ar 234 jet reconnaissance bomber which used bmw 003 jets for power . through 1944 the 003 s reliability improved making it a suitable power plant for air frame designs competing for the j gernotprogramm s light fighter production contract . which was won by the heinkel he 162 spatz design . the bmw 003 aviation turbojet was also under consideration as the basic starting point for a pioneering turboshaft powerplant for german armored fighting vehicles in 1944 45 as the gt 101 . 13 towards the end of the third reich bmw developed some military aircraft projects for the luftwaffe the bmw strahlbomber the bmw schnellbomber and the bmw strahlj ger but none of them were built . 14 15 more detail by the year 1958 the automotive division of bmw was in financial difficulties and a shareholders meeting was held to decide whether to go into liquidation or find an alternative . it was decided to carry on by trying to cash in on the current economy car boom exploited so successfully by german ex aircraft manufacturers such as messerschmitt and heinkel . bmw bought the rights to manufacture the italian iso isetta . bmw s version of the tiny cars were to be powered by a modified form of bmw s motorcycle engine . this was moderately successful and helped the company get back on its feet . since 1959 the controlling majority shareholder of the bmw aktiengesellschaft has been the quandt family which owns about 46 % of the stock . the rest is in public float . bmw acquired the hans glas company based in dingolfing germany in 1966 . glas vehicles were briefly badged as bmw until the company was fully absorbed . it was reputed that the acquisition was mainly to gain access to glas development of the timing belt with an overhead camshaft in automotive applications 16 although some saw glas dingolfing plant as another incentive . however this factory was outmoded and bmw s biggest immediate gain was according to themselves a stock of highly qualified engineers and other personnel . 17 the glas factories continued to build a limited number of their existing models while adding the manufacture of bmw front and rear axles until they could be closer incorporated into bmw . 18 bmw 3 series f30 in 1992 bmw acquired a large stake in california based industrial design studio designworksusa which they fully acquired in 1995 . in 1994 bmw bought the british rover group 19 which at the time consisted of the rover land rover and mg brands as well as the rights to defunct brands including austin and morris and owned it for six years . by 2000 rover was incurring huge losses and bmw decided to sell the combine . the mg and rover brands were sold to the phoenix consortium to form mg rover while land rover was taken over by ford . bmw meanwhile retained the rights to build the new mini which was launched in 2001 . chief designer chris bangle announced his departure from bmw in february 2009 after serving on the design team for nearly seventeen years . 20 he was replaced by adrian van hooydonk bangle s former right hand man . bangle was known for his radical designs such as the 2002 7 series and the 2002 z4 . in july 2007 the production rights for husqvarna motorcycles was purchased by bmw for a reported 93 million euros . bmw motorrad plans to continue operating husqvarna motorcycles as a separate enterprise . all development sales and production activities as well as the current workforce have remained in place at its present location at varese . in june 2012 bmw was listed as the 1 most reputable company in the world by forbes.com . 21 rankings are based upon aspects such as people s willingness to buy recommend work for and invest in a company is driven 60 % by their perceptions of the company and only 40 % by their perceptions of their products . shareholder structure edit by types strategic investors 46.7 % institutional investors 39.7 % north america 13.5 % united kingdom and ireland 7.7 % other europe 12.1 % germany 3.5 % rest of the world 3.0 % other investors 13.6 % production edit bmw plant in leipzig germany spot welding of bmw 3 series car bodies with kuka industrial robots . in 2006 the bmw group including mini and rolls royce produced 1 366 838 four wheeled vehicles which were manufactured in five countries . 22 in 2010 it manufactured 1 481 253 four wheeled vehicles and 112 271 motorcycles under both the bmw and husqvarna brands . 23 the bmw x3 e83 was made by magna steyr a subsidiary of magna of canada in graz austria under license from bmw until 2010 . more than 45 973 were produced in 2009 . starting october 2010 the new bmw x3 f25 is produced at bmw us manufacturing company greer south carolina . it is reported that about 56 % of bmw brand vehicles produced are powered by petrol engines and the remaining 44 % are powered by diesel engines . of those petrol vehicles about 27 % are four cylinder models and about nine percent are eight cylinder models . 24 bmw also has local assembly operation using complete knock down components in thailand russia egypt indonesia malaysia and india for 3 5 7 series and x3 . 25 worldwide sales edit vehicles sold in all markets according to bmw s annual reports . year bmw mini rolls royce motorcycle 2005 1 126 768 200 428 797 97 474 2006 1 185 088 188 077 805 100 064 2007 1 276 793 222 875 1 010 102 467 2008 1 202 239 232 425 1 212 115 196 2009 1 068 770 216 538 1 002 100 358 2010 1 224 280 234 175 2 711 110 113 2011 1 380 384 285 060 3 538 113 572 2012 1 540 085 301 525 3 575 117 109 2013 1 655 138 305 030 3 630 115 215 2014 1 811 719 302 183 4 063 123 495 2015 2 1 905 234 338 466 3 785 136 963 since 2008 motorcycle productions and sales figures include husqvarna models . excluding husqvarna sales volume up to 2013 59 776 units . china sales edit bmw sells vehicles in china through more than 440 bmw sales outlets and 100 mini stores delivering 415 200 units to this network between january and november 2014 . 26 annual production edit year bmw mini rolls royce motorcycle 2005 1 122 308 200 119 692 92 013 2006 1 179 317 186 674 847 103 759 2007 1 302 774 237 700 1 029 104 396 2008 1 203 482 235 019 1 417 118 452 2009 1 043 829 213 670