BMW 531

BMW
BMW 531 (1951)
331/531
Presentation year:	1951 (pre-series)
Vehicle fair:
Class :	Small car
Body shape :	limousine
Engine:	Otto engine : 0.6 liters
Production model:	none

The BMW 531 - sometimes also referred to as the BMW 331 - was the prototype of a small car that Fritz Fiedler designed in 1951 as the first car after the Second World War . It was to be BMW's first post-war car .

history

As in the early years after the First World War , Austin provided the model for the body of the two-seater sedan . Curved fenders with integrated headlights and the round trunk lid were reminiscent of the later BMW 501 .

After the intervention of the director Hanns Grewenig , however, series production was rejected because a small car from the BMW company was not considered worthy.

"BMW cars should be the calling card of German society."

- Hanns Grewenig : The mirror

In addition, BMW would not have been able to finance the purchase of several large sheet metal presses in order to be able to produce the high numbers required for the profitability of the project.

technology

A fan-cooled two-cylinder boxer engine from BMW motorcycle production, which was installed at the front and powered the rear wheels, served as the drive. The displacement was 600 cm³, the performance is not known.

The doors were hinged at the back, and the front and rear windows were each divided by a narrow bar in the middle. In terms of dimensions, the car roughly corresponded to the contemporary Fiat Topolino .

• 

literature

• Werner Oswald : All BMW automobiles 1928–1978 . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-87943-584-7 .

Web links

Commons : BMW 331/531  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• BMW 531 prototype. In: BMW history. BMW AG, accessed on September 28, 2017 (document in the BMW Group Archive). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bavaria's Gloria . In: Der Spiegel . No. 3 , 1960, p. 20-30 ( Online - Jan. 30, 1960 ).
2. ↑ ^{a b} BMW M531 automobile engine 0.6 liters. In: BMW history. BMW AG, accessed on September 28, 2017 (document in the BMW Group Archive).