Despite of the challenge from Alfa Romeo, Audi and Lexus, BMW still builds the best sports sedans in the world. Alfa and Jaguar had been there decades ago but both of them ignored the potential of the sports sedan market. BMW took it with 02 series in the 60 is and never look back.  

While it is still performing good, its subsidiary Rover is on the contrary. BMW purchased the Rover group in 1994, making it the 7th largest European car maker. The British group was declining since the 70 is but it has a rich collection of many valuable marques, such as Austin, Healey, MG, Triumph and the King of off-roader, Land Rover. (Among these brands, only MG, Rover and Land Rover are now being used, plus the model Mini now sees as a brand name) However, group CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder gave the British arm too much independence, without sharing much cost with BMW itself. Moreover, flawed design of Rover 75, wrong market positioning of Rover 200 and 400, and build quality problems for Land Rover Freelander also contribute to the sales decline. As a result, Rover has recorded heavy loss for 2 successive years and recovery is not expected until 2002. 

Therefore Bernd Pischetsrieder, together with the no. 2 man, Wolfgang Reitzle, were sacked in 1998. A rescue plan has been developing but it seems that some miracles are really necessary to cure the deep-rooted problem in Rover. 

Apart from the various brands held by Rover, starting from 2003 the famous Rolls Royce name will also come under BMW's control. Although Volkswagen beat BMW to buy Rolls Royce and Bentley in 1998, the former threaten to withdraw the "Rolls Royce" brand name via the relationship with jet engine maker, Rolls-Royce Plc, which owns the rights to the brand and favoured BMW right from the beginning. Therefore the German rivals made an agreement : until 2003, RR will still be ran by VW; after that BMW will take back the name and produce RR in a new factory. See Rolls Royce for more details.

Its first production car was a simple and cheap car named "Dixi", which was simply an Austin Seven produced under licensed. However, it was the 2-litre sports car 328 which made reputation for the company in 1936. This elegant and aerodynamic efficient sports car had strong presence in motor racing and took a class victory in Mille Miglia. 

After WWII and a 3-year ban of production by Allies, it started working on its own mass production car. The model 501 was presented in 1951. Then came the classic V8 sports car 507. However, BMW was not classified as a volume car maker by making these commercially unsuccessful models. What it needed is the model 1500 which appeared in 1962. The compact sport sedan pointed to the correct direction, which led to even more success in the following 02 series. With the powerful 2002 and even 2002 turbo, BMW emerged as an expert of sports sedans.  

The Motorsport division was established in 1972 and developed the M-cars, starting from the mid-engined M1. At the same year, the business expanded to larger cars, 5-series. 

When the 3-series was launched in 1975, there was still no one else realised the potential of the market opened by BMW. When Mercedes finally did it with the 190E in 1985, the 3-series had already entered its second generation. The third generation in 1991 was even more successful, it left a record that the current generation hard to match. 

BMW continued going upmarket by introducing 7-series in the early 80 s. The first generation was not really as luxurious as Mercedes  big model, but the second generation in 1987 really did that. It even introduced a V12. 

However, BMW is not always successful. The replacement of 6-series by the big and expensive but cramped 8-series was a failure. The Z3 roadster also received many criticism about its handling as well as styling. Luckily, BMW did not make such mistakes in its main stream sedan models. 

Another failure is the take over of Rover Group in 1994. The loss in Rover nearly offset the profit generated by its German mother company.