BMW Group celebrates
successful new beginning 50 years ago
BMW LS Luxus
Munich - The BMW Group is
celebrating its independence and the company’s continued success
since its restructuring plan was accepted on 30 November, 1960
with a special ceremony at the Theresienhöhe in Munich on 30
November 2010. “Herbert Quandt’s business instinct and his
ability to make courageous decisions at that time set a new
course for our company and secured BMW’s ability to control its
own future,” said Chairman of the Supervisory Board of BMW AG,
Prof. Dr. Ing. Joachim Milberg, before the ceremony in Munich.
After rejecting Daimler-Benz’s
takeover bid for BMW in 1959 and adopting the rescue plan in
November 1960, BMW went on to become an almost unprecedented
success story. Since 2004, the BMW Group has been the world’s
leading supplier of premium automobiles. Its workforce has grown
from 6,900 in 1959 to over 96,000 employees today. At the same
time, the number of vehicles sold has climbed from 42,000 at
that time to a predicted total of more than 1.4 million
automobiles (BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce) this year.
In its unique way, the BMW Group
represents long-term business decisions and bold,
future-oriented action. “We benefit from having a shareholder
structure with a family of entrepreneurs as our major
shareholder. To this day, it has been a stabilising factor,”
added Milberg.
“I consider it a privilege that we
are able to make decisions from a long-term perspective, in the
interests of all our stakeholders and in partnership with our
workforce” noted Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG,
Dr. Ing. Nobert Reithofer.
The course for future success was
set in 2007 with Strategy Number ONE. “This strategy was
introduced well before the financial and economic crisis and has
been systematically implemented over the past three years. It
laid the foundation for the upturn we are currently
experiencing,” according to the Chairman of the Supervisory
Board of BMW AG. New models enjoying success today, such as the
BMW X1 and the MINI Countryman, were also decided upon in 2007.
BMW ISETTA Production
The slogan “Sheer driving
pleasure” originates from the year 1964 and holds true for all
BMW brand models. “Today, BMW is a brand that combines dynamic
performance and efficiency like no other. And that will apply in
the future, also, regardless of the type of drive train under
the bonnet,” commented Reithofer. “It also has to do with the
people who work at BMW. Besides their high level of skill and
dedication, they also have a strong identification with the
company,” as Milberg pointed out.
The ceremony at the Theresienhöhe
is being held at the very same place where shareholders rejected
the Daimler-Benz bid to acquire BMW on 9 December 1959. Speakers
at tomorrow’s event include Supervisory Board Chairman, Prof.
Dr. Milberg, and Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG,
Dr. Norbert Reithofer, as well as the Chairman of the General
Works Council, Manfred Schoch. Representing the majority
shareholder, Stefan Quandt will also discuss the historic
relationship between the Quandt family and BMW.
