Pre-War BMW (1908–1940) brings together the era in which BMW’s automotive story was still taking shape and during which many of the principles that would later define the brand were first established. Although BMW itself only began car production after taking over the Eisenach factory in 1928, the earliest part of this page reaches back even further through Dixi and the automobile history of Eisenach. It was from that world that BMW’s first automotive era emerged, developing within just a few years from a small licensed car into a maker of elegant coupés, sports cars and more luxurious six-cylinder models.
The models of this period show very clearly how quickly BMW developed during the 1930s. While Dixi 3/15 and the later BMW 3/15 played a key role at the beginning, the second half of the decade already brought far more ambitious cars such as the 327, 328 and 335. The BMW 328 became one of the most successful sports cars of the 1930s, while the 327 placed greater emphasis on elegance and grand touring character, and the 335 represented BMW’s larger and more luxurious upper-class offering. In this way, the period reflects BMW’s transformation from a producer of small cars into a technically confident and increasingly distinctive automobile manufacturer.
This page presents different aspects of BMW’s pre-war automobile production, ranging from the Dixi 3/15 era and the early small cars to icons such as the 327, 328 and 335. Taken together, these models represent the period in which BMW emerged as a car brand and in which the combination of sportiness, elegance and engineering ambition first became part of its identity for the decades that followed.
Click on the model image or name to open the gallery and description.