Premium automobiles. Dynamic driving experiences. Pioneering decisions in design and technology. The BMW brand stands for all this and more. From the company s early aircraft engines to their motorcycles and today s sleek hybrids, it has long defined the character of its brand with its slogan, Sheer Driving Pleasure a promise delivered by BMW vehicles to the world and continually created anew by developers. As the company prepares to observe its centenary in 2016, this book travels back to its very first day, reflecting on one hundred years of production at the world s leading manufacturer of top-quality automobiles and motorcycles.

Through text and images, BMW 100 Masterpieces details the company s history, exploring the components of the BMW brand identity, selecting one hundred significant achievements, be they innovations in vehicles or the engineering process or world-renowned series and models like the famous BMW 328, the BMW Z series, or the motorcycle BMW K1. Special sections are devoted to the company s racing program; its world records; and movie appearances, including the James Bond franchise. The book also discusses the company s employment reforms and groundbreaking environmental decisions. Throughout the book, nearly three hundred vintage and new photographs show the evolution of this distinguished brand and the engines, motorcycles, and automobiles it produces.

Published with the aid of the BMW Museum in Munich and edited by the museum s curator, Andreas Braun, BMW 100 Masterpieces celebrates a century of fine engineering and great automobiles while offering an absorbing look at how one of the world s foremost vehicle manufacturers came to be.

About the Author
Andreas Braun is a Munich-based art historian and curator at the BMW Museum. Together with Hirmer Publishers he published “Rolls-Royce” and “The MINI Story”.