March 1955, many are called the second birth date of BMW. The fact is that it was at that time that Germany, defeated in the war, began to recover. The national idea in the country was work, for the implementation of which it was necessary at least for some reason to move about. Then the light appeared and car BMW "Isetta", which eventually became one of the most popular vehicles that transported their passengers for short distances.
Speaking of this tiny car, one can not help but mention that his origin and appearance is due to the Italian company Iso. Having earned an unprecedented experience in the production of scooters, the company moved to the production of tiny, outwardly very strange machines designed for the driver and one passenger. From other cars they differed by a spacious door that formed the entire front part and opened with the instrument panel and the steering wheel. At the rear of the engine was a power of 9 horsepower, in connection with which the design of the car was sometimes compared with a refrigerator. The Italians intended to launch mass production of higher-class cars, so they decided to sell the license. As a result, during the Geneva Motor Show in 1954, the model was noticed by BMW designers, and soon after it went to the assembly line of the Munich manufacturer. Interestingly, the Italian version was produced in Brazil and England.
The Bavarian designers slightly protunited BMW "Isetta". As a result, the engine power increased to 12 "horses" and the car could already reach a speed mark of 30 km / h in eleven seconds. The model was able to develop a speed of 85 km / h, however, for this driver needed very strong nerves. Possessing low cost, all-weather and reliability, the BMW "Isetta" was bought by a lot of people - he literally fascinated the Germans. Among other things, the small cars then enjoyed the greatest popularity amid a shortage of fuel caused by the Suez crisis. In turn, the unusual and non-standard cars allowed to fill a niche between good cars and cheap ones. During the first year of production, about 12,000 copies of the model came off the assembly line, and in 1957 this number was already forty thousand. It should be noted that due to the development of technology some time later the engine of the car became a little more powerful.
Production of BMW "Isetta" was discontinued in 1962. To a large extent this was due to the appearance in Europe of another novelty - Mini. For the entire time of the model's existence, about 160,000 copies of it have come off the assembly line. Despite everything, the model fulfilled its mission with honor. Therefore, even now the representatives of the German concern, not being shy of this fact, agree that having bought the Italians a license for their strange car, BMW only won. Do not forget that the company's engineers worked primarily on a series of more high-speed cars, but to implement these zadumok in reality, it was necessary to make significant investments. To earn them it would be possible exclusively on the project with mass demand. Many experts are firmly convinced that BMW "Isetta" brilliantly coped with this task. Therefore, there is every reason to believe that if not for the breakthrough of this tiny "boomer" of Italian origin, BMW would not have achieved such significant success.