As a German-owned company, Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Works), the official founding date was March 7, 1916. Its first product was an aircraft engine BMW IIIa. The main products were aircraft engines, motorcycles, and automobiles until WWII.
The first logo with its distinctive blue and white panels was created in 1917, resembling the Bavarian national flag. However, not until the late 1920s was the logo lent a new interpretation as representing a rotating propeller.
The first car designed entirely was BMW 3/20, released in 1932. After WWII, the company resumed car production in Bavaria in 1952 with the BMW 501 luxury sedan. In later years, they focused on producing sport-oriented cars.
In 1994, BMW bought the British Rover Group and retained only the right to Mini. In addition, BMW had supplied Rolls-Royce with engines since 1998 for use in the Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph.
BMW released the first electric car BMW i3 in 2013, and the first hybrid car BMW i8 was introduced in 2014. The 2016 G11 7 Series 740e and F30 3 Series 330e models are the first plug-in hybrid versions of the 7 Series and 3 Series.