BMW AG (an abbreviation for Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, or in English, Bavarian Motor Works), is a German company and manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles. BMW is the parent company of the Mini and Rolls-Royce car brands, and, formerly, Rover. BMW was founded by Karl Friedrich Rapp in October 1913. The blue-and-white circular logo BMW still uses alludes to the blue and white checkered flag of Bavaria.

Between 1994 and 2000, under the leadership of Bernd Pischetsrieder, BMW owned the Rover Group in an attempt to get into mass market production, buying it from British Aerospace. This brought the Rover, Mini, Land Rover and Triumph brands under BMW ownership. The venture was not successful. For years, Rover tried to rival BMW, BMW found it difficult to reposition the English automaker alongside its own products and the Rover division was faced with endless changes in its marketing strategy. BMW was more successful with the Mini and Land Rover brands, which did not have parallels in its own range at the time. In 2000, BMW disposed of Rover after years of losses, with Rover cars going to the Phoenix Consortium for a nominal £10 and Land Rover going to the Ford Motor Company. BMW retained the Mini and Triumph marques. Mini has been a highly successful business, though the Triumph name has not been used.

In the early part of the 2000s, BMW undertook another of its periodic cycles of redoing the styling design of its various series of vehicles, under the auspices of newly promoted design chief Christopher Bangle. These designs called "flame surfacing" by Bangle did not rest well at all with BMW enthusiasts or the automotive press which referred to the new designs as "Bangled" or "Bangle-ized". Despite the controversy, BMW sales have increased year after year, showing the buying public's embrace of the new design philosophy.