BMW was all but sold to Daimler-Benz by its own management.
The sale was to go through at the shareholders’ meeting of 9 December 1959. Small shareholders and dealers fought it for ten hours and found an error in the accounts that let them adjourn the meeting. Herbert Quandt then risked much of his fortune to keep the company independent. In 2025 BMW sold nearly 370,000 more cars than Mercedes-Benz.
BMW on Brandseum