BMW
After the end of World War I in 1918, BMW was forced to cease aircraft engine production by the terms of the Versailles Armistice Treaty. To remain in business, BMW produced farm equipment, household items and railway brakes. In 1922, former major shareholder Camillo Castiglioni purchased the rights to the name BMW, which led to the company descended from Rapp Motorenwerke being renamed Süddeutsche Bremse AG (known today as Knorr-Bremse). Castiglioni was also an investor in another aircraft company, called "Bayerische Flugzeugwerke", which he renamed BMW.The disused factory of Bayerische Flugzeugwerke was re-opened to produce engines for buses, trucks, farm equipment and pumps, under the brand name BMW. BMW's corporate history considers the founding date of Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (7 March 1916) to be the birth of the company.
Bavarian Autosport
The company’s website was launched in 1996. It became an e-commerce site in 2001. When BMW launched the new MINI in 2002, the company began offering parts and accessories for MINIs as well. In 2003, the company launched a quarterly newsletter that contains step-by-step do-it-yourself repairs, in-depth product features and a technical Q&A with “Bavarian Otto”, a cartoon character developed to make automotive repairs and maintenance seem less intimidating. In 2008, the company started posting many of these Q&A online at blog.BavAuto.com, a searchable, online knowledgebase that now contains more than 1,000 Q&A and dozens of D.I.Y. videos.
As of 2016, Bavarian Autosport was still owned and operated by the three friends who founded the company.