BMW has been around in one incarnation or another for nigh on 100 years, and there is very good reason for that, they've always known what their customers have wanted.
Bavarian Motor Works began its life fitting rotary engines to the light-weight aircraft used to maim and kill Allied soldiers in WW1, a tradition it re-instated under Hitlers 3rd Reich, powering many of the aircraft that pounded London to rubble during the blitz.
However during the swing years between the wars, BMW began to produce full sized luxury sedans based on the legendary Austin 7 as well as motorcycles.
This decidedly German perseverance and determination has ensured BMW's place at the forefront of both the european luxury and performance markets. That and always picking the right side, when its convenient.
BMW's party piece for the last 38 years has been it's legendary M-Division. Created in May of 1972 with a staff of eight, the M-Division's mission was to water down the companies race cars into ones that would be at home in the parking lot of your local supermarket. The approach was a great success, giving birth to the incredible 3.0 CSL which had room in the boot for things, a backseat for children and would get you home like your pants were on fire.
The equally storied BMW M1 was also a product of this mantra, but it was more watered down race car than everyday grocery getter. Sporting only two buckets in the front, a straight six in the back and a super car style body, it was very exclusive and very inconvenient for anything other than impressing a hot date with your ability destroy your wheels while en-route to a delicious meal consisting mostly of fondue.
When 1979 rolled around, the mantra was changed, and the M-Division began to beef up it's existing saloon cars by feeding the engines with garbage bags of crack cocaine. The first car to emerge from the M-Divisions head quarters in frankenstein's lab was the incredible first generation M5.
Unveiled at the 1984 Amsterdam Motor Show, the M5 was based on the E28 5series, but on steroids, crack and many other hallucinogenic, mind altering drugs, making Amsterdam a fitting place for it to be unveiled.
It had a re-worked and re-tuned version of the M-1's 3.5L straight 6 lurking under the bonnet and a specially tuned chassis to handle the beast up front. It was the fasted production saloon when it was released, and sparked a revolution in the european car world.
The idea of a hand-built performance saloon car was no new concept, but the fact that the hands building the M-Divisions performance saloons were in fact German hands, made the idea all that much more easy to stomach.
And stomach it the european car buyer did, they ate it up and asked for more, and as a result, here we stand 38 years later and the M-Division has sold more than 300,000 models, with the M3 alone.
Instead of diving with the rest of the automotive sales during the recent world-wide recession, M-Division sales actually increased by 50 per cent across the board. A very notable achievement,one that proves that no matter what the odds, BMW can overcome whatever the world throws at it, whether it be wars, communist states or the world's wallets being filled with lint and receipts, proving that nothing, no matter what the odds can beat a well built, over-powered automobile.
