393:
still small, and it was dominated by
Mercedes-Benz. BMW found customers for only about 3,000 cars annually. In some respects BMW displayed a bizarre "money no object" approach to their luxury car: a perfectly adequate fastener for the luggage locker (boot/trunk) could have been produced for 8 Marks, but BMW insisted on developing a superior fastener costed at 98 Marks. The high cost of the special fastener no doubt reflected the relatively small number of cars over which development costs had to be amortised. Low production volumes and, especially in the early 1950s, high warranty costs meant that the BMW 501 was never as profitable as the board had hoped.
498:, which had been launched on the basis of cost estimates that in retrospect appeared ludicrously optimistic. He accused colleagues for failing to provide convincing cost estimates for proposed new models, but at this stage no prototypes had been produced so that any costing of proposals was a somewhat theoretical exercise. In the end Hanns Grewenig resigned from BMW in 1957. By mutual agreement with the chairman of the supervisory board, Hans Karl von Mangoldt-Reiboldt, Grewenig's resignation took place six months ahead of the date previous scheduled. His successor in charge of the executive board,
301:). In 1947 the military administration gave permission for the company's destroyed Munich plant to be rebuilt as a motorbike factory. The necessary investment amounted to 63 Million marks, leaving the company heavily indebted. Desperate shortage of cash would be a defining feature of Grewenig's time at the top of BMW. Motorbike production nevertheless resumed in 1948, which significantly was also the year of
316:. There was nevertheless an awareness that if the economy continued to improve, growth in the motorbike market would not continue, and Grewenig was adamant that a return to automobile production was vital in order to provide a "second leg" if the company was have a long term future. Money to invest in production was a challenge however. To the west
305:. 9,450 BMW motorbikes were produced in 1949, which had risen to 28,300 by 1952, although in the acute austerity of the period, most of the machines that found buyers were relatively basic: there was little demand for the expensive (and more profitable) heavy motorbikes for which BMW had been known in the 1930s and early 1940s.
450:
Nevertheless, the economies of scale that
Volkswagen were by now achieving had the effect of depressing new car prices across the small car sector in West Germany, and BMW remained under acute financial pressure throughout the 1950s. As far as the BMW model range was concerned, it might be thought
363:
in 1936, the BMW 501 for 1952 was seen as seriously underpowered, and high warranty charges for the early cars indicated that it was also seriously underdeveloped at launch, reflecting the manufacturer's continuing acute cash shortage. Mercedes-Benz were also cash strapped, and their contender in
392:
engine of the BMW resulted in an anemic power-to-weight ratio of 19 kg of car weight per unit of declared horsepower, . Two years later a V8 engined 2.6 litre version addressed some of the criticisms of the BMW's sluggish performance, but the overall market for large cars in West
Germany was
459:
had little in common. Unfortunately, one thing they did have in common was poor build quality, which continued to land the manufacturer with high warranty costs and, at a time when several (though not all) West German automakers were building a reputation for quality, left BMW at a competitive
170:
to the west. During the next decade Opel, backed by the investment capabilities of its
Detroit parent, more than quadrupled its domestic market sales in the booming German automarket, and Grewenig's career followed a similarly upward trajectory. With GM-Opel he worked successively as Customer
493:
As automobile production continued to be loss making for BMW, tensions mounted at board level. By 1956 there was agreement that the company needed to plug the gaping gap in its range with a mid-size model, but
Grewenig was determined to avoid the mistakes that had been made with the
465:"... die sogenannten harten Kalkulationen des Herrn Donath vor Beginn der Wagenfertigung und die heutigen Werte der Letztkalkulation die außerordentliche Steigerung der Selbstkosten zeigten und damit den Schlüssel geben für die ständigen Verluste in der Wagenproduktion bis heute."
341:, was rich in skilled craftsmen and wages were low. Grewenig and his senior colleagues accordingly determined that BMW's first West German passenger car should compete at the top end of the market, attracting a premium price for a small number of luxury saloon/sedan models.
412:, an Italian manufacturer from Lombardy. The company looked for ways to exploit the idea in Germany, and in the end Grewenig, supported by his technical director Kurt Donath, was able to persuade an initially reluctant board to pay the Italians for a license to manufacture
416:
of the Iso design at the BMW Munich plant, adapted to take a motorbike engine from BMW's existing range along with modified front suspension to take he extra weight of the electric starter/dynamo motor that BMW fitted. With more than 160,000 sold between 1955 and 1962 the
158:, on the same side of the city as the Ford business but slightly further from the city centre. The | facility assembled a small number of Chevrolets and Buicks for a few years around this time. However, in 1929, the year after Grevening joined the company
469:"... the so-called hard calculations provided by Mr Donath before production, and the most recently calculated actual costs show an extraordinary increase: this provides the key to the continuing losses from automobile production "
332:
thanks to a pre-war design that had captured the imagination of the market. BMW's dire financial position ruled out investment in a new factory for volume production any time soon, but
Bavaria, its population swollen by
426:"... die ständig steigenden Reklamationen an Wagen und Isetten verursachen außerordentliche Aufwendungen der Produktion einerseits und ein katastrophal sinkendes Vertrauen der Kundschaft andererseits“
430:"... the constant rise in complaints about cars and Isettas causes extraordinary additional production costs on the one hand and a catastrophic loss of trust from the customer base on the other hand."
396:
While BMW contested the large car market, and the middle market was fought over by several manufacturers, the high volume small market in West
Germany was becoming monopolised by just one car, the
262:). The Vomag plant had been approximately 40% destroyed by bombing, but by February 1946 was nevertheless ready for a return to truck production on a limited scale. At this point, however, the
404:, took place early in 1954 at which the two men identified a way that BMW might secure for itself a slice of the small car market, inspired by a "motorbike with a body shell" (
130:
Grewenig's career took a change of direction, as he undertook a commercial apprenticeship and then took charge of several vehicle service/repair shops. In 1927 he joined
784:
254:
had been heavily bombed, leaving it, according to one source, one of the most completely destroyed towns in
Germany. The town found itself on the southern edge of the
334:
355:
was unveiled at the
Frankfurt Motor Show, though "development issues" delayed the start of production until late 1952. Powered at this stage by a compact
1017:
263:
230:
which had reacted to the decline in Plauen's textile business thirty years earlier by diversifying into trucks and buses. By 1941 it had switched to
277:. Sources indicate that Grewenig remained in charge at the Vomag plant till 1947. That year he crossed the (at this stage still completely porous)
171:
Services
Director, Director for Production and Distribution of Replacement Parts, and Sales Director for the southern part of Germany, covering
202:. Grewenig was appointed plant director, retaining this responsibility till 1938. That year he transferred to the company's main plant, at
879:
166:, already Germany's largest car producer in terms of volume, but hitherto a family owned automobile manufacturer with a modern car plant at
267:
1037:
1032:
513:. The Daimler Benz ambitions for BMW were thwarted only at the eleventh hour through a massive cash investment by the industrialist
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735:
559:
206:
where he took over as Operations Director. The next year he was finally appointed a full member of the company's executive board.
297:
as Commercial Director in 1948, retaining the position till 1957. Between 1948 and 1955 he combined the role with that of CEO (
723:
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83:
134:, the US automobile manufacturer which in 1925, initially rather tentatively, had opened a vehicle assembly facility in the
219:
281:
separating the Soviet occupation zone from Bavaria, which had ended up in the US occupation zone (after May 1949 the
259:
328:
was cash rich and happy to invest in new plant. In the small car sector, a miraculous revival was unfolding at
243:
119:
320:
still had their car plant and were achieving significant additional cash flow from their truck range. Most of
509:, would have a similarly challenging time at the top of the company, which culminated with an offer for BMW by
235:
199:
127:
266:
ordered the remains of the factory to be disassembled, crated up and shipped to the Soviet Union as part of a
460:
disadvantage in the market place: by the end of the decade dealers were accumulating stocks of unsold cars.
499:
282:
247:
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had invested in a much more modern engine. Applying a simplistic but telling comparison, contrasting the
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82:(30 September 1891 - 6 April 1961) was a German engineer who pursued a successful career in the
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400:. A discussion between Hanns Grewenig and C. A. Drenowatz, the BMW distributor for
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517:, which saved the business and, as matters turned out, gave BMW a long term future.
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86:. He was the Commercial Director and a leading member of the executive board at
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the six cylinder class was in many respects a less elaborate design, but the
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Grewenig was mandated to improve efficiencies and expand production. The
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became, in sheer volume terms, the most successful BMW model to date.
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BMW automobile production before the war had taken place at a plant in
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324:'s factory had been disassembled and shipped to the Moscow area, but
251:
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54:
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for the Mercedes of 16 kg of car weight per unit of declared
180:
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163:
687:
Manfred Grunert (March 2004). "Hanns Grewenig – der Kaufmann".
874:
Vol. 4 Görres - Hittorp. K.G.Saur, München. p. 135.
691:. Holger Lapp i.A. BMW Group Mobile Tradition. pp. 28–33.
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to which the company no longer had access since it was in the
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in May 1945, found what was left of Germany divided into four
87:
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as a marine engineer. In 1917 he obtained his diploma as a
840:"Vogtländischen Maschinenfabrik AG (VOMAG), Plauen, Germany"
774:* ...Opel sales 1938: 81,983 cars Total market:222,778 cars
772:* ...Opel sales 1934: 52,586 cars Total market:130,938 cars
730:. Vol. 2. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart. p. 531.
728:
Personenwagen-Neuzulassungen im Deutschen Reich 1931-1938
359:
not massively changed since it had first appeared in the
270:
that had, at least in principle, been agreed between the
126:, serving as chief engineer on a submarine. After the
770:*Opel sales 1931: 16,135 cars Total market:56,039 cars
408:) that had been displayed at the Geneva Motorshow by
820:. Dipl.-Ing. Christian Suhr i.A. Vomag, Reichenbach
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47:
25:
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787:. Thorsten Sprenger, Vettelschoss. Archived from
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689:Mobile Tradition live - Fakten und Hintergründe
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842:. Trevor Larkum of Armour Archive Publications
969:. Bath, UK: Parragon Publishing. p. 46.
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868:Rudolf Vierhaus (producer) (30 April 2006).
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477:Hanns Grewenig on the production costs of
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554:. John Wiley & Sons, NJ. p. 65.
525:Hanns Grewenig died in a car accident in
438:Hanns Grewenig in an internal memorandum
260:German Democratic Republic / East Germany
234:production, becoming a major supplier of
218:when he was recruited to take charge at
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283:German Federal Republic / West Germany)
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150:A year later, in 1928, he switched to
639:"Hanns Grevening - Autoindustrieller"
7:
936:"BMW-Krise: Isettas schwere Stunde"
641:. Munzinger-Archiv GmbH, Ravensburg
122:after which he participated in the
993:. The People-Lexicon, Rheinmünster
14:
1018:People in the automobile industry
609:"Industrie / BMW Bayerns Gloria"
238:to the military, especially the
154:who had an assembly facility at
351:remained on the shelf, and the
214:In 1941 Grewenig relocated to
1:
967:The Ultimate History of BMW
103:Hanns Grewenig was born in
1064:
991:"Biografie Herbert Quandt"
372:of 1952 with the BMW 501,
114:. In 1911 he joined the
84:German Automobile Industry
1038:Engineers from Strasbourg
1033:General Motors executives
619:(online). 13 January 1960
275:before the end of the war
946:(online). 29 August 1956
258:(after October 1949 the
200:Brandenburg an der Havel
965:Noakes, Andrew (2005).
785:"Opel-Werk Brandenburg"
406:"verkleidetes Motorrad"
349:small BMW passenger car
347:'s 1951 proposal for a
264:military administration
190:In 1935, encouraged by
90:between 1948 and 1957.
500:Heinrich Richter-Brohm
490:
447:
314:Soviet occupation zone
256:Soviet occupation zone
455:and the "bubble car"
378:power-to-weight ratio
339:1945 frontier changes
551:The Ultimate History
548:David Kiley (2004).
268:reparations package
240:Jagdpanzer IV/70(V)
152:General Motors (GM)
107:which at that time
818:"VOMAG Geschichte"
791:on 30 October 2016
388:, whereas the 65
156:Berlin-Borsigwalde
881:978-3-598-25034-7
704:Missing or empty
529:on 6 April 1961.
370:Mercedes-Benz 220
357:6-cylinder engine
272:victorious powers
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995:. Retrieved
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885:. Retrieved
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844:. Retrieved
834:
822:. Retrieved
793:. Retrieved
789:the original
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718:
688:
643:. Retrieved
633:
621:. Retrieved
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511:Daimler-Benz
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384:Pferdestärke
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224:manufacturer
213:
189:
149:
136:Western Port
102:
79:
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63:West Germany
51:6 April 1961
1048:1961 deaths
1043:1891 births
1023:Opel people
944:Der Spiegel
942:. 35/1956.
905:|work=
754:|work=
617:Der Spiegel
578:|work=
503: [
402:Switzerland
376:reported a
374:Der Spiegel
204:Rüsselsheim
177:Württemberg
168:Rüsselsheim
138:quarter of
99:Early years
1028:BMW people
1012:Categories
706:|url=
615:. 3/1960.
536:References
457:BMW Isetta
419:BMW Isetta
398:Volkswagen
330:Volkswagen
162:purchased
105:Strasbourg
70:Occupation
33:Strasbourg
907:ignored (
897:cite book
756:ignored (
746:cite book
580:ignored (
570:cite book
451:that the
414:a version
128:war ended
997:22 March
950:21 March
887:21 March
846:21 March
824:21 March
795:20 March
697:cite web
645:20 March
623:20 March
335:refugees
310:Eisenach
479:BMW 501
453:BMW 501
361:BMW 326
353:BMW 501
173:Bavaria
112:Germany
59:Bavaria
41:Germany
973:
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527:Munich
483:(1956)
440:(1956)
279:border
252:Plauen
216:Plauen
185:Hessen
140:Berlin
109:was in
55:Munich
507:]
386:/ PS)
236:tanks
220:Vomag
210:Vomag
181:Baden
999:2016
971:ISBN
952:2016
909:help
889:2016
876:ISBN
848:2016
826:2016
797:2016
758:help
732:ISBN
710:help
647:2016
625:2016
582:help
556:ISBN
322:Opel
250:.
183:und
164:Opel
146:Opel
132:Ford
116:Navy
94:Life
48:Died
26:Born
496:501
410:Iso
295:BMW
289:BMW
232:war
198:at
124:war
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