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.
Automotive industry in Germany
In the late-1950s, BMW developed financial difficulties and control of the company was acquired by the Quandt family. BMW acquired Glas in 1966. In 1961, the Borgward auto group, including Goliath and Lloyd went out of business. In 1958 Auto Union was acquired by Daimler AG, but then in turn it was sold in stages from 1964 to 1966 to Volkswagen AG (at which time the DKW marque was ended and the Audi name was resurrected). In 1969, Volkswagen AG acquired NSU Motorenwerke (developer of the Wankel engine) and merged it with Auto Union, but the NSU nameplate disappeared by 1977 when production of the Ro80 rotary-engine saloon (European Car of the Year on its launch 10 years earlier) was stopped largely due to disappointing sales and a poor reputation for reliability.