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Let me guess: Your friend, who’s so proud of his “Beamer,” told you the BMW logo represents a spinning airplane propeller. That’s just not true.

Yes, BMW launched a dope 1929 ad campaign with its logo overlaid on a spinning airplane propeller (pictured below). The campaign fit, because the company was founded to build airplane engines. And the association stuck around for decades. But that’s not the actual history and meaning of the BMW logo.

An ad for BMW from 1929, illustrating how the familiar logo came about while the company was manufacturing aircraft engines.
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When you see the BMW logo next to the state flag of Bavaria, Germany, its color and shape make perfect sense. Bayerische Motoren Werke’s logo is a black ring around a small section of the checkered blue and white flag of its home province: Bayern (the German word for Bavaria). But the logo does carry over key elements from its parent company.

The blue and white Bayern flag of Germany's Bavaria state, in front of a blue sky
Bavarian flag | Harald007 via iStockPhoto

BMW was established by engineers from the Rapp Motorenwerke company. Rapp was established to build airplane engines, but struggled with financial problems. So the engine team left and set up shop as BMW in 1916. They kept the Rapp Motorenwerke’s familiar logo with its black border and art deco font. But in the middle, they added a small section of the flag of Bavaria. That blue and white checkered flag, in turn, was based on the coat of arms of House Wittelsbach, the historic rulers of Bavaria.

The English pronunciation of BMW’s full name is Bavarian Motor Works. But if you really want to impress your friend at your next Cars and Coffee you can pronounce it Bayerische Motoren Werke. And if you really want to be a snob, you can insist that BMW would technically just be “BM” in German because the correct form of the name should be Bayerische Motorenwerke.

Or you can just explain that the BMW logo is a section of the Bavarian flag, a coat of arms which predates the airplane propeller by a thousand years.

If you’re a die-hard fan you can read about your writer’s first BMW.

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Staff Writer

Henry Cesari

Henry Cesari is a MotorBiscuit Staff Writer who brings his deep interest in vintage cars, trucks, and motorcycles to the site. Henry covers Ford models daily, including the F-150. Having restored his first classic car at just 16 years old, Henry has wrenched on everything from overland campers to Japanese motorcycles and even pre-war Bugattis. He’s an avid attendee at local car shows and genuinely enjoys connecting with fellow auto enthusiasts. Henry earned a Bachelor’s in Anthropology and English from the University of Vermont.

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