BMW Logo

In 1917, the aircraft engine manufacturer Rapp Motorenwerke was renamed Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Works), which most of us now know by its three-letter abbreviation. BMW retained some elements of the Rapp logo, including its circular shape and black outer ring. But in the center of the ring, the logo’s designers placed the now-iconic blue-and-white quadrants, the colors of which were taken directly from the flag of Bavaria, where BMW’s founding city of Munich is located. 

Contrary to popular belief, the emblem wasn’t designed to evoke a spinning airplane propeller against a blue sky. This oft-repeated myth began with a 1929 advertisement promoting a new aircraft engine the company was developing, which featured an airplane with the BMW logo represented in its rotating propeller. While this myth fits with the company’s roots in aircraft manufacturing, it isn’t the real reason behind the logo — that honor stays firmly in Bavaria.