Welcome to Brand Breakdown, a series of comprehensive yet easy-to-digest guides to your favorite companies, with insights and information you won’t find on the average About page.
Bavarian automaker BMW, once upon a time, claimed to produce the “ultimate driving machine.” Though its fidelity to that mission may have strayed some in recent years, the brand generally distinguishes itself from its German rivals by being sporty and driver-centric; the classic BMW archetype is a powerful rear-wheel-drive sedan with a manual transmission and great handling.
However, BMW has adjusted to the modern car market like any other company. Stick shifts have been all but phased out from the lineup, and much of the track-tuning goes to four-door crossovers. Still, the cars remain instantly recognizable for their dual kidney grilles — though some have ballooned to cartoonish proportions.
BMW History
BMW stands for Bavarian Motor Works (Bayerische Motoren Werke in German). The company, formally BMW AG, was founded in Munich in 1916. BMW began as a WWI airplane engine manufacturer. Its first car did not appear until 1928. Only after WWII did building cars become the primary enterprise. Cars like the 2002 and its successor, the 3 Series, laid the foundation for BMW to become a luxury and performance powerhouse from the 1980s onward.
How BMW Names its Cars
BMW, like Mercedes-Benz and Audi, uses an alphanumeric naming system. BMW models comes in numbered series ranging from 1 to 8. Larger odd-numbered series mean a bigger car. Even-numbered series tend to be body style variants of the previous series. (Note that series names are not hyphenated like Mercedes-Benz classes: 3 Series versus E-Class.) X models are SUVs. Z models are roadsters. Models starting with a lowercase i are electric or hybrid models; models can also have the suffixes sDrive (two-wheel-drive) or xDrive (all-wheel-drive) — although not all RWD Bimmers are marked with an sDrive badge.
The second set of numbers in a model name indicate how big the engine is. They used to track engine displacement. Now, a bigger number just means a bigger engine. The final letter (e.g. 230i) indicates what type of engine the car has. Most cars end in i, for gasoline fuel injection. There are also “e” electrified hybrids and, in other markets, “d” diesel cars.
