BMW might be known as a luxury and performance car maker today, but the company got off the ground, quite literally, but producing aircraft engines all the way back in 1916. Over the course of more than 100 years, BMW has survived two world wars and, despite its current position as a global automaker, it even came face-to-face with bankruptcy back in the 1960s when things were so bad that Dr. Hans Feith – the chairman of the company’s Supervisory board – suggested merging with Daimler-Benz. That, however, is a story for another time. Since then, the company turned around and has since introduced its M division back in the late 1970s