What the BMW Logo Really Represents

A propeller, the Bavarian flag, or both? Here's what the BMW logo really represents - and how it's changed over the past century.

Anyone who knows that the acronym stands for "Bayerische Motoren Werke" and - which is quite likely due to the geographical proximity of Austria - is familiar with the Bavarian national colors, probably already has an idea of ​​what the famous emblem could actually be about. But one after another.

The Bavarian Motor Works was founded in 1917 by Rapp Motor Works, a Munich aircraft engine manufacturer. When it was entered in the register in July of the same year, the new company had no logo at all, and the first advertisement was placed without a logo at all. It was not until October 5, 1917, that BMW got its first logo, the inscribed black ring which was adopted from the emblem of the Rapp engine works. The font color has been changed from white to gold.

Instead of the silhouette of the horse chess piece that adorned the Rapp Motor Works emblem, BMW adopted a reference to its origins at the center of its new logo: the white and blue quarter circles correspond to the state colors of the Free State of Bavaria. However, if you compare this with the Bavarian diamond flag, you will notice that the colors in the BMW emblem are arranged in reverse order when viewed from left to right clockwise. The reason for this lies in the trademark protection law, which prohibits the use of state coats of arms or other national symbols as a trademark or logo.

So far, so clear. The question remains: Why does the stubborn belief persist that the BMW logo shows a propeller? The answer to this is provided by an advertisement for a new aircraft engine that BMW built under license from Pratt & Whitney in 1929. It showed the emblem with the lettering and the Bavarian national colors on a rotating aircraft propeller. This motif was also later picked up again by BMW itself, so the connection of the logo to a propeller is anything but pulled out of thin air.

In 1953, the BMW logo appeared for the first time with white lettering and a border instead of gold. Ten years later, the emblem was updated, and the move away from the serif font and the changed shade of blue are particularly eye-catching. In 1997, the three-dimensional look of the BMW logo was introduced.

In 2020, the famous emblem underwent a drastic change: in addition to the return to the reduced, two-dimensional look, for the first time in the company's history, the black ring, which has been a reminder of the heritage of Rapp Motorenwerke for over 100 years, is dispensed with. Instead, the space that becomes free remains transparent, so it appears different depending on where the logo is placed. The new emblem was developed for "online and offline communication", so it will not be used on BMW vehicles for the time being.

BMW showed what the partially transparent part could look like on a car in the spring of 2020 during the presentation of the Concept i4.