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Say Goodbye to the Hours: BMW Has Launched a New Research Website
Since its 1916 founding as an aircraft and engine maker, BMW has always pushed the boundaries of design and engineering. Now that it has been building cars for nearly a century, the company has created an apt way to showcase its extensive back catalog of vehicles—BMW Group Classic.
This comprehensive new website dedicated exclusively to BMW’s motoring heritage focuses on the cars it has built in the 80-year period from 1928 to 2008, many of which you’ve likely never heard of.
The site is easy to navigate and incredibly well organized—as one might expect from the Germans—and is searchable in several ways. You can simply enter a model, or a series, and the results are quickly filtered. You can search by eras, such as Prewar and Postwar, by individual model series, by decades, or by body type, and you can distill the results further by combining those parameters. Coupes of the 1950s, for example, with produce results that include the 501, 502, 503, and 700.
Each result is accompanied by a representative photo of the car in profile and a succinct history that provides excellent talking points, such as where it debuted, engineering highlights, other body styles offered, how they are remembered today, and more. Clicking each photo yields a dropdown with more information.
Nothing is too in-depth, or too time-consuming, and while BMW die-hards might not learn anything groundbreaking from the entries, browsing this new resource is certainly a great way to spend your lunch break. That said, within the BMW Group Classic realm, the company does offer more in-depth research modes, such as brochures, workshop literature, and specialist books.
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In all, 424 cars are included on the new site, from the BMW 3/15 of 1929 to the 2008 Z4 M Coupe. BMW says that the site was constructed with “emphasis … placed on the future viability of the tool. The historical model overviews can be extended with future vehicle generations.” It will only get bigger, and better, in other words.
“By making our complete historical model overviews available online, we meet a high external demand for historical product information that has existed for many years and maximizes customer satisfaction with another digital tool,” said Katrin Gfrörer, head of BMW Group archives and historic vehicle collection.
The new tool complements similar archives launched in 2021 that provide information and images on Mini and the company’s motorcycles, BMW Motorrad.
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Excellent! As it happens, my interest in BMWs ended in about 2008.
Agreed. My 2007 328XiT was the worst car I’ve ever owned, out of some 50+ – uncountable electrical and mechanical issues and terrible ride over any road surface, even with the run-flats switched to norms.
Too little, too late. BMW has done a poor job of supporting older car parts and information. From an owner of an E24 and an E28.
The aftermarket support is extensive for e24/e28 (although not e30 levels) and BMW still sells so much more than most manufacturers would for both these vehicles. Information including factory manuals are available free all over the internet. I will say both my e24s required a lot more effort finding things than other bmws but the internet is a big resource. If you need help locating anything I’m happy to help!
Yeah I will be spending some time in this site for sure.
Interestingly I looked up what it had to say about my 1998 E24 M6. Errors! Engine was incorrectly identified (numbers switched around) and introduction date of said engine was incorrectly identified as being at a time when the car was no longer being produced… Perhaps this site was a make-work project for some junior staffers who didn’t have enough supervision…
Shame, BMW. But you’ve done it before *AKA Chris Bangle*