How the BMW 1500 Saved the Model — 65 Years of the Neue Klasse Legacy

In 1961 on the Frankfurt Motor Present, BMW’s legacy modified ceaselessly. It was right here that the model debuted the primary of its “Neue Klasse” — German for New Class — automobiles. After all, on the time it was simply known as the BMW 1500. The “New Class” moniker wouldn’t crop up in BMW’s promoting till 1964. Regardless, the BMW 1500 (and later, the remainder of the Neue Klasse automobiles) grew to become a cornerstone of the model; it each helped deliver the model again from the brink of extinction and set the muse for a steady of automobiles no automaker may match for many years to come back. The automotive’s significance resonates even at the moment, 65 years later.

The BMW 1500: 65 Years In the past, It Saved BMW

Earlier than the automotive’s debut — a good for the remainder of 1961 — BMW was not in a very good place. In  the put up warfare period, BMW’s losses mounted: yr after yr, the model posted poor financials, with little model cache save for the lovely BMW Isetta (which was solely sort of a BMW; it was, in spite of everything, technically a automotive designed by Italy’s Iso Autoveicoli). The microcar craze receded and BMW’s luxurious choices aged. Issues grew to become dire, however the stage was set for the model’s glow up. The Quandt household had ostensibly “saved” the model round 1960, closely investing and gaining a controlling curiosity. In late 1960, the BMW 1500 started taking form.

As BMW already had a useful four-cylinder engine — the M115 — from its early makes an attempt at a mid-sizer, an amazing design with good packaging was wanted. Enter Wilhelm Hofmeister, who along with Italian designer Giovanni Michelotti, sketched the Neue Klasse sedan. Its easy, considerate design and format was an intentional departure from BMW’s earlier fashions. For instance the distinction, take into consideration the BMW 507 after which check out the BMW 1500. Except for a passing resemblance within the grille, virtually nothing provides away that each fashions are BMWs. As a reminder, the 507 ended manufacturing simply two years earlier than the BMW 1500 debuted!

The BMW 1500 was critically and commercially very effectively obtained. By 1963, BMW was in a position to resume paying dividends to its shareholders, one thing that hadn’t occurred in twenty years. Because the Neue Klasse’s success grew to become obvious, BMW started working cashing in. The BMW 1500 led to the BMW 1800, which featured the earliest of BMW’s “trendy” energy vegetation, the M10 four-cylinder engine. A brand new 1600 mannequin got here in 1964, with the BMW 02 Sequence coming quickly thereafter.  Throughout the ten years between 1960 and 1970, BMW’s gross sales tripled, with income growing greater than sevenfold.

BMW 1500: 65 Years Later

The BMW 1500 particularly by no means hit collector marketplaces at a premium. However arguably, there’s a variety of the unique Neue Klasse round at the moment. The Hofmeister kink debuted on the BMW 1500. Extra clearly, the Neue Klasse has lent its title to the subsequent technology of electrified BMW fashions. Whereas the iX3 and its ilk won’t seem to share a lot with the boxy, useful 1500, and the model isn’t significantly struggling for the time being, there’s rather a lot to be mentioned in regards to the ideological shift BMW and the remainder of the automotive market is grappling with proper now. Recall how the “Neue Klasse” moniker originated: “The view was that we had created a fairly distinctive and peerless ‘new class’,” mentioned Marc Thiesbürger, Press Spokesman for BMW Group Traditional. Will the…erm, New New Class measure up — will anybody bear in mind in 2090? Solely time will inform.