Key facts
- Founded
- 1916
- Founded by
- Franz Josef Popp, Karl Rapp, Gustav Otto, Max Friz, Camillo Castiglioni
- Country
- Germany
- Headquarters
- Munich, Germany
- Parent company
- BMW Group
- Legal name
- Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
- Famous models
- 3 Series, 5 Series, X5, 7 Series, M3
- Slogan
- “The Ultimate Driving Machine”
- Website
- www.bmw.com
What does the BMW logo mean?
The BMW logo means two things: where the company came from and where it is based. The black outer ring comes from the badge of Rapp Motorenwerke, the Munich engine maker that became BMW in 1917, and the blue and white quarters are the state colors of Bavaria.
That is the whole BMW logo meaning. The BMW symbol was not designed as a propeller, and there is no hidden code in it. Call it a logo, a BMW emblem or a badge; BMW’s own name for it is the roundel.
The logo of BMW has three parts, and each one has a documented source:
| Element | Where it comes from | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Black outer ring | The round Rapp Motorenwerke badge, which had a black ring bearing the company name | A carry-over from the firm that was renamed BMW |
| Letters B, M and W | Set into the ring in 1917, where the Rapp name used to be | Bayerische Motoren Werke, or Bavarian Motor Works |
| Two blue and two white quarters | The heraldic colors of Bavaria, from the House of Wittelsbach | BMW’s home state, shown in reverse order |
The circle, then, is inherited. The BMW logo is round because the Rapp badge was round, and the company kept that shape when it swapped the name for its new initials.
Why are the Bavarian colors reversed?
The colors are reversed because the trademark law of the time did not allow state coats of arms or other symbols of sovereignty in commercial logos. BMW could use Bavaria’s white and blue, but not in their heraldic order, so the quarters run in the inverse sequence when you read them clockwise from the top left.
The same rule explains why the roundel has plain quarters instead of the lozenge (diamond) pattern of the Bavarian arms. So the BMW logo is not the Bavarian flag. It borrows the colors and changes the arrangement. Those colors belong to the state of Bavaria, not to the city of Munich.
Is the BMW logo a propeller?
No. The roundel is a black ring around the Bavarian colors, and it was never drawn as a spinning propeller. The propeller reading came later, from BMW’s own advertising.
It started with a 1929 BMW advertisement. The ad showed an airplane with the roundel placed in its turning propeller, and it promoted a radial aircraft engine that BMW was building under license from Pratt & Whitney. By then the logo had existed for 12 years.
In 1942 an article in Flugmotoren-Nachrichten (Aircraft Engine News), BMW’s in-house publication, repeated the idea with a photo of the roundel over a rotating propeller. After that, the story spread on its own.
BMW did little to correct it for a long time. Fred Jakobs, archive director at BMW Group Classic, has said that after roughly 90 years the myth has “acquired a certain justification.” Put simply, the propeller is an interpretation BMW allowed to stick, not the original BMW logo meaning.
What does BMW stand for?
BMW stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke, German for Bavarian Motor Works. Word by word, Bayerische means Bavarian, Motoren means engines or motors, and Werke means works or factories. Bavaria is the German state where Munich, BMW’s home city, is located.
In German the initials are spoken letter by letter as “bay-em-VAY” ([ˌbeːʔɛmˈveː]). English speakers simply say “B-M-W.” Strict German grammar would write the name as one compound, Bayerische Motorenwerke, and that spelling shows up in some old publications and ads, but the company’s legal name keeps the two words apart: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG.
The meaning of BMW goes back to July 1917. That month the Munich aircraft-engine maker Rapp Motorenwerke, which Karl Rapp had founded in 1913, was entered in the commercial register under its new name, Bayerische Motoren Werke. The staff, the equipment and the assets stayed the same at first.
The official founding date is older. BMW counts 7 March 1916, when Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW) was founded, as its birthday. In 1922 the BMW name and engine business passed to BFW, which created today’s BMW AG. The founders usually named are Franz Josef Popp, Karl Rapp, Gustav Otto, Max Friz and Camillo Castiglioni.
Aircraft engines came first. Max Friz developed the BMW IIIa straight-six in 1917, and the first BMW motorcycle, the R 32, followed in 1923.
BMW logo history: every version since 1917
BMW logos have changed in their details, not in their structure. Every version since 1917 keeps the black ring, the three letters and the blue and white quarters. What changed was the lettering, the gold or silver trim, the 3D effect and, since 2020, the split between a badge for cars and a logo for screens and print.
BMW’s own press archive shows example versions dated 1917, 1933, 1954, 1979 and 2007. Where logo sites give other years, the dates below follow BMW’s archive and say so.
| Version | In use | What changed | First seen on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rapp Motorenwerke logo | 1913–1917 | Black ring with the company name around a horse’s head | Rapp, the predecessor firm |
| First BMW roundel | 1917 to about 1933 | Letters BMW, two gold lines, blue and white quarters | Trademark register, 5 October 1917; R 32 fuel tank, 1923 |
| Bolder gold roundel | 1930s to early 1950s | Larger, heavier gold letters and thicker gold rings | BMW archive example, 1933 |
| Silver-white roundel | Early 1950s to 1960s | Silver-white serif letters, lighter blue | BMW archive example, 1954 |
| Flat sans-serif roundel | 1960s (usually dated 1963) to 1997 | Bold white sans-serif letters, flat print look | BMW archive example, 1979 |
| 3D badge | 1997 to 2025 on cars | Chrome rim and inner ring, shading, graded blue | BMW vehicles from 1997 |
| Flat communication logo | Since 3 March 2020 | Transparent ring, grey letters, no 3D effect | Advertising and online, not cars |
| New vehicle emblem | Since September 2025 | No inner chrome ring, no bars between the quarters, satin black ring | BMW iX3; other models from February 2026 |
1913–1917: Rapp Motorenwerke logo, the predecessor
Before BMW, there was Rapp Motorenwerke, the aircraft-engine firm Karl Rapp founded in Munich in 1913. Its badge was a black ring carrying the company name around a horse’s head on a plinth, which looks a lot like a chess knight. It had no blue and white quarters and no BMW letters. The black ring is the part BMW kept.
1917–1930s: the original BMW logo
The original BMW logo was entered in the German Imperial Register of Trademarks on 5 October 1917. When the new name was registered that July, the company had no logo yet, and its first advertisement that month carried no emblem at all.
The first logo BMW registered kept Rapp’s round shape and black ring. Two thin gold lines framed the ring, small gold serif letters B, M and W sat around its top, and blue and white quarters filled the center. It first appeared on a vehicle in 1923, on the fuel tank of the R 32 motorcycle.
1930s–1950s: bolder gold lettering
In the 1930s the gold letters grew bolder, and BMW’s archive shows this version in 1933. The layout stayed the same, but the letters became larger and heavier, with serifs that fill more of the ring. The gold rings got thicker and the blue stayed deep.
Many logo sites date this change to 1923. That year belongs to the R 32, the first vehicle to carry the badge, not to a redesign.
1950s–1960s: silver-white letters
After the war, in the early 1950s, gold gave way to silver-white letters and a lighter blue. BMW’s archive example of this style is dated 1954. The letters kept their serifs, and a thin white line now edged the outside of the ring.
Some aggregators date the silver version to 1936. BMW’s archive doesn’t support that: it shows gold letters in 1933 and silver ones in 1954.
1960s–1997: flat sans-serif roundel
In the 1960s, usually dated 1963, the serif lettering gave way to bold, wide white sans-serif letters. The design was flat, with no shading, a thin white outline around the quarters and around the outer edge, and a medium blue.
BMW’s archive illustrates this high-contrast version with an example dated 1979, so it was still in use at the end of the 1970s.
1997–2025: the 3D badge
In 1997 the vehicle badge took on a three-dimensional look: a chrome rim and inner ring, shading on the black band, and a blue that runs from light to dark. It was the BMW car logo for almost three decades.
It also survived the 2020 redesign. The flat logo introduced that year was for communication only, so the 3D badge stayed on vehicles and on dealership signs until the new emblem arrived in 2025.
2020–today: the flat communication logo
On 3 March 2020 BMW launched a flat, two-dimensional logo, its first new corporate identity in more than 20 years. The black ring is gone. The ring is transparent, so whatever sits behind it shows through, and the outer circle line and the BMW letters are grey. There is no chrome and no shading.
The rollout ran until 31 May 2021 and also covered the BMW i and BMW M communication logos. Jens Thiemer, then head of customer and brand at BMW, tied the change to BMW becoming a “relationship brand,” with a logo meant to signal openness and clarity and to suit digital media.
2025–today: the new BMW logo on cars
The new BMW logo on cars is a revised vehicle emblem. It debuted on the Neue Klasse BMW iX3 at the IAA show in Munich in September 2025, and from February 2026 the other model series gradually get it on the hood, so 2026 is the year the badge changes across the range.
The new badge drops the inner chrome ring and the chrome bars between the quarters, so blue and white meet directly. The black ring now has a satin finish, and the letters are slimmer. It is still clearly the roundel, just with less chrome. BMW is changing over to a new M logo during the same period.
Does BMW have two logos?
Yes. Since 2020 BMW has used two forms of the roundel side by side: a physical badge on its cars and a flat, transparent logo for advertising, websites and print. Both are official, and which one counts as the real BMW symbol depends on where you see it.
The flat 2020 BMW logo never went on vehicles or dealer signs. Cars kept the 3D badge until the new vehicle emblem arrived with the iX3 in 2025. Above both sits the parent company, whose BMW Group logo is a separate corporate logotype used since 2021.
| Logo | Looks like | Used on | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vehicle emblem | Satin black ring, slim letters, no chrome bars between the quarters | Hoods of new BMWs | September 2025 (iX3), other models from February 2026 |
| 3D badge | Chrome rim and inner ring, shaded blue | Earlier cars, dealer signs | 1997 |
| Communication logo | Transparent ring, grey outline and letters, flat | Advertising, online and print | 3 March 2020 |
| BMW Group logotype | A separate corporate logotype | The group as a company | 2021 |
| BMW M logo | Letter M with three stripes | BMW M cars | 1978 |
The group’s other car brands keep their own badges: Mini and Rolls-Royce belong to BMW Group, and BMW motorcycles are sold as BMW Motorrad. So if you count the sub-brands, BMW uses more than two logos.
BMW logo colors
The BMW logo colors are blue, white and black, with gold, silver or chrome trim depending on the era. Blue and white are Bavaria’s state colors, black is the ring inherited from Rapp, and the trim moved from gold to silver-white after the war.
- Blue and white: the four quarters, in reverse heraldic order. The shade has shifted over time, from a deep blue in the 1930s to a lighter blue after the war.
- Black: the outer ring since 1917. The 2020 communication logo is the one version that replaces it with a transparent ring, and the 2025 vehicle emblem gives it a satin finish.
- Gold, then silver: gold letters and lines until the early 1950s, then silver-white letters, and chrome on the 3D badge from 1997.
- Grey: the letters and outline of the flat 2020 logo.
- Light blue, violet and red: the colors of the 1973 BMW Motorsport logo and of the BMW M stripes. In BMW’s explanation, blue stands for BMW, red for motorsport and the middle color for the link between the two. Violet has since become a dark blue, and the blue does not refer to Bavaria.
BMW M logo: the three stripes
The BMW M logo is a letter M led by three slanted stripes, and the M stands for Motorsport. It belongs to BMW Motorsport GmbH, the racing subsidiary BMW founded in 1972, which has operated as BMW M GmbH since 1993.
The first BMW Motorsport logo was not an M. It was a round emblem with the BMW roundel in the middle, framed by offset semicircles in blue, violet and red, and it first appeared in 1973 on the BMW 3.0 CSL racing car. It is sometimes called the BMW M Motorsport logo, although the company then went by BMW Motorsport GmbH.
The M with three stripes followed in 1978 on the BMW M1. Giorgetto Giugiaro’s Italdesign, which designed the M1, drew it, and the beveled stripes stand for dynamism and speed. The M1 is the only M production car that wore both the round emblem and the striped M.
Whether people call it the BMW M logo, the BMW M Series logo or the BMW M Sport logo, they mean this striped M. Later versions added chrome effects, a flat version came in 2020, and in 2022, for BMW M’s 50th anniversary, buyers could order the 1973 emblem instead of the roundel.
Full history: BMW M logo
Where the BMW logo appears on a car
On a BMW car the roundel appears on the hood, the tailgate or trunk lid, and the wheel hubs, which makes it the BMW car logo you notice first on the road. Its first vehicle, though, had two wheels: the 1923 R 32 motorcycle.
- Hood: the main BMW car symbol, and the first spot where the new 2025 emblem appears on existing model series from February 2026.
- Tailgate or trunk lid: the second roundel on the car.
- Wheel hubs: a smaller roundel at the center of each wheel.
- Motorcycle fuel tanks: starting with the R 32 in 1923.
- Dealer signs: the 3D BMW logo, not the flat 2020 version.
- The BMW Museum roof in Munich: painted as a BMW logo 40 meters (about 131 feet) across. The museum opened in 1972.
BMW logo PNG and black-and-white versions
The download button at the top of this page gives you a BMW logo PNG with a transparent background, 1728 × 1728 pixels. It shows the flat 2020 version, with grey letters and a grey outline, so it reads best on light backgrounds.
- Full color: blue and white quarters with the grey ring lines and letters, as in the file above.
- The BMW logo in black and white: convert the PNG to grayscale. The blue quarters turn a mid grey, so the checkered center stays readable.
- BMW M logo PNG: the striped M has its own page and download, see BMW M.
Frequently asked questions
Is BMW a German car?
Yes. BMW is a German brand. The company behind it is Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, headquartered in Munich in the German state of Bavaria, and the blue and white on its badge are Bavaria's colors. It is not a Japanese car, even though it competes with Japanese luxury brands.
Who is BMW owned by?
BMW is owned by its shareholders. The company is Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, and AG stands for Aktiengesellschaft, a stock corporation comparable to an American Inc. or a British PLC. BMW Group is the name the same company trades under, not a separate owner standing above it.
What is BMW's slogan?
BMW has two. "Freude am Fahren," or "Sheer Driving Pleasure" in English, has been its worldwide slogan since 1972. In the United States the better-known line is "The Ultimate Driving Machine," which BMW North America coined in 1974. Both date from the early 1970s, so neither is a recent marketing invention.
What was the first BMW car?
BMW became a carmaker in 1928, when it bought Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach. That factory was building the Austin 7 under license as the Dixi, and the first car sold under the BMW name, the BMW 3/15, was a rebadged Dixi. Before that, BMW had made aircraft engines and, from 1923, motorcycles.
Why do some BMW logos have a blue ring?
A blue rim around the roundel marked BMW's electrified models, which used their own version of the badge. The new vehicle emblem that debuted on the iX3 in 2025 does away with that separate badge. So a blue-ringed roundel on an earlier car simply tells you it is one of BMW's electrified models.
What is the blacked-out BMW emblem?
The black in an official BMW roundel is the outer ring; the quarters stay blue and white. The 2025 vehicle emblem gives that ring a satin black finish, and since 2024 new BMW M high-performance models carry their model badges in high-gloss black with a satin aluminum outline, or a red outline on special models such as the M4 CS.
Can I use the BMW logo?
The roundel has been a registered trademark since 5 October 1917 and belongs to BMW. Showing it to identify the brand in news, reviews or school work is generally treated differently from putting it on products, merchandise or ads, which usually needs BMW's permission. This is general information, not legal advice.
