BMW

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Jack Ewing, As BMW Is Put to the Test, Its Plans Are Years Ahead. New York Times, Nov 23, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/2 ... f-his-strategy.html

Quote:

"Though continuing to build roughly 60 percent of its vehicles in high-cost Germany, BMW reported another rise in quarterly profits this month

"Cars are Germany’s largest export product.

The price of fuel is "close to the equivalent of $8 a gallon for premium gasoline in Germany

BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer "told a story about the three years, from 1997 to 2000, that he spent overseeing BMW’s factory in Spartanburg, SC.  Soon after arriving, Mr Reithofer recalled, he presented managers there with a list of problems. They corrected him. 'Norbert,' they said, according to Mr Reithofer, 'here in the United States we don’t have problems. We have challenges. And every challenge is an opportunity.'  That expression of American can-do spirit 'left a deep, deep impression on me,' he said. An aide says that Mr. Reithofer tells this story at least once a week.

"BMW is one of the few automakers to have made a profit ever year since the financial crisis began in 2008. Warned in late 2007 by a BMW dealer in the United States that the subprime crisis was beginning to hurt sales, Mr Reithofer returned to Germany and persuaded the company’s board of management to cut production even though evidence of a downturn was only anecdotal. 'That was a very turbulent board meeting,' Mr Reithofer said.

"Mr Reithofer in many ways personifies the German ideal of a manager. He is an engineer in a country that reveres that profession.


Note:
(a) BMW
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW
(Founded 1917; Headquarters Munich)
(i) BMW's predecessor was Rapp Motorenwerke GmbH, co-founded by Karl Rapp in 1913 to make aircraft engines.
(ii) The full name of BMW is Bayerische Motoren Werke AG.

* Bayerische (adj): "Bavarian"

From the online German-English dictioary
http://dictionary.reverso.net
, supplied by Collins.
(iii) The report describes BMW’s headquarters in Munich as "a high-rise building shaped like four cylinders."

http://www.usautoparts.net/bmw/pics/5057_1024.jpg

(b) German surnames:
(i) I can not find the meaning of Reithofer.
(ii) Feurer/Feuer: "occupational name for a stoker in a smithy, salt works, or public baths, from an agent derivative of Middle High German viur ‘fire’"
(iii) Dudenhöffer: "habitational name from a farm named Dudenhof(f), from the personal name Dudo (see Due) + Middle High German hof ‘farmstead’, ‘manor farm’, ‘courtyard’."

(c) The Dutch surname Nieuwenhuis is "topographic name for someone living in a new house, from Middle Dutch n(i)uwe ‘new’ + huus ‘house.’"

(d) For Technical University of Munich, see Technical University Munich
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_University_Munich
(German: Technische Universität München (TUM); English: also known as  University of Technology, Munich; Technical University of Munich; [in] 1868 University founded by King Ludwig II [of Bavaria (1845-1886; reign 1864-1886; also known as Mad King Ludwig)]; numerous Nobel Laureates from its faculty)

* Kingdom of Bavaria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Bavaria
(1806-1918; As a state within the German Empire, the kingdom was second in size only to the Kingdom of Prussia)

(e) University of Duisburg-Essen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Duisburg-Essen
(public; founded in 2003 as a merger of the Gerhard Mercator University of Duisburg and the University of Essen, both of which were established in 1972)

* The cities of both Duisburg and Essen are subsurbs of Düsseldorf
North Rhine-Westphalia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Rhine-Westphalia
(section 2.1 Subdivisions)

(f) Mini
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini
(1959-2000; made by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors [including Rover Group, of which BMW took control in 1994] from 1959 until 2000; also made Mini Cooper 1961–2000; section 8 End of production)

(g) Thw "welt" in "BMW Welt" is nf (noun feminine) that means "world."
(h) Husqvarna Motorcycles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Husqvarna_Motorcycles
(began producing motorcycles in 1903 at Huskvarna, Sweden [the parent company was established by Sweden in its town of Huskvarna in 1689], as a branch of the Husqvarna armament firm which had supplied the Swedish army with rifles since 1689; in 1987 sold to Italian motorcycle manufacturer Cagiva; purchased by BMW but headquarters and work force remain in Varese, Italy