BMW's First Car Wasn't Designed by BMW · BMW Evolution 1929–2030

BMW had been building aircraft engines for thirteen years before it built a car, and the car it built wasn't its own design. The 1929 3/15 was an Austin Seven, assembled under licence in Eisenach with a BMW roundel on the nose. Everything below is the company learning to stop borrowing: the 328 that won the Mille Miglia, the Isetta bubble car that kept BMW solvent in the years its shareholders were asked to sell to Daimler-Benz, the 1500 that started the Neue Klasse and with it the modern company, the M1 that was built to go racing, and the i3, BMW's first mass-produced electric car. It closes with two design studies for 2026 and 2030. Every car in this BMW evolution, 1929 to 2030 1929 3/15 (Dixi) · 1936 328 · 1954 502 "Baroque Angel" · 1955 Isetta 1962 1500 (Neue Klasse) · 1966 2002 · 1972 5 Series (E12) · 1973 3.0 CSL 1975 3 Series (E21) · 1976 6 Series (E24) · 1977 7 Series (E23) · 1978 M1 1981 3 Series (E30) · 1983 5 Series (E28) · 1986 M3 (E30) 1987 7 Series (E32) · 1989 8 Series (E31) · 1990 3 Series (E36) 1992 M5 (E34) · 1994 7 Series (E38) · 1996 Z3 · 1998 3 Series (E46) 1999 X5 (E53) · 2000 M3 (E46) · 2003 5 Series (E60) · 2004 1 Series 2006 Z4 (E85) · 2007 X6 · 2008 M3 (E92) · 2011 1M Coupe 2012 3 Series (F30) · 2013 i3 · 2014 i8 · 2015 X1 (F48) 2016 7 Series (G11) · 2018 X7 · 2019 3 Series (G20) · 2021 iX3 · 2022 i4 2023 i7 Chapters 00:00 Aircraft Engines to the M1 (1929–1978) 01:01 The E30 Years and the First M Cars (1981–1999) 01:57 SUVs, V10s and the First Electric BMWs (2000–2015) 02:53 i-Series and What Comes After (2016–2030) Sources · BMW 328, Mille Miglia 1940 — overall victory · BMW 3/15 (Dixi), 1929 — built under Austin Seven licence ▶ Next: BMW 3 Series 1975–2034 → https://youtu.be/SwWVEVA5xqU ▶ Then: Ferrari 1947 to 2042 → https://youtu.be/Yh-2P0W3RJs #BMW #NeueKlasse #M1

Added 13 Sept 2026