What does BMW stand for?
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Answer: BMW stands for “Bavarian Motor Works”
In 1916, Karl Rapp and Gustav Otto founded a company called “Gustav Otto Flugmaschinefabrik” in the city of Munich to produce airplanes. In 1917, it was renamed to “Allgemeine Flugtechnische Maschinen-Aktiengesellschaft”, or “AFM”. When Rapp and Otto separated in 1918, Rapp continued using the lettering from his previous company – “Rapp Motorenwerke” – as a logo for his new company, calling it “BMW”, where the “W” stands for “Wasserboxer”, which refers to a specific engine configuration BMW used until the 1950s.
The first letter of the new company name was deliberately ambiguous and could be taken to mean “Bavarian Motor Works”. BMW’s current logo still features a round shape with an M in the middle, whose shadow stands for the first letter.