In 1954 BMW was struggling to survive and looking for a product to generate much needed cashflow. With the boom in micro cars underway, this looked like the answer.
A licence to build the Isetta was purchased from Iso in Italy, along with complete body tooling, enabling a rapid start up. However BMW applied their own engineering expertise, replacing the noisy two stroke with a 250cc four stroke OHV BMW motorcycle motor, and an all-indirect four speed gearbox. This delivered 12 bhp and a top speed of 85 km/h (53 mph), although it took at least 40 seconds to get there from standstill.
It was launched in April 1955 and immediately proved very popular, with 13,000 units sold in the first year. In 1956 the engine size was increased to 300cc and 13 bhp.
Sales continued to be strong, making a considerable contribution to the company health. In Germany the BMW Isetta became affectionately known as “das rollende ei” the rolling egg. Production continued until 1962, by which time more than more than 160,000 had been sold. So it would be fair to say that without the intervention of a rolling egg, BMW might not exist today.
