BMW badge

Beautiful Mechanical Wonder, say BMW drivers.

Bloody Minded Wombat, say drivers fed up with aggressive 'entitled' show-offs.

BMW was originally a manufacturer called Rapp Motorenwerke which made aircraft engines for the Luftwaffe. But despite popular belief, the logo is not supposed to represent a spinning propellor. Neither is the "+" formed between the circle's four quadrants a Greek Cross.

Those four quadrants are in fact an extension to the company's full name "Bayerische Motoren Werke".

Bayerische (Bavaria) has two state flags, one striped and one lozengy. Of the two colours, the striped flag shows white at the top and therefore white is considered the dominant colour.

The same white and blue are incorporated into the BMW logo to reflect the company's roots, but the colours only - not the striped or lozengy shapes. German trademark law in the early 20th century forbade the use of state coats of arms on commercial logos. So instead of stripes or lozenges, we see a circle containing four quadrants.

Following heraldic convention, the sinister chief (top left) of a shield is the first segment, which would be white for the case of Bayerische. So to further comply with the spirit of trademark law, the first segment on the BMW logo is blue.

Mildly interesting, though completely useless, information.