Press Release

A succès d’estime at the Mille Miglia.

And he was able to prove it too. Back in 1954 the Isetta had taken part in the Mille Miglia – and earned its spurs: over a distance of 1,000 miles the drivers achieved an average speed of over 70 km/h (43 mph). In view of its maximum speed, which was just 15 km/h higher, this was an almost incredible figure. There is no doubt that this was helped by the fact that the front-wheel mountings and suspension moved with the steering, which meant that the steering geometry remained unaltered even when the car tilted and rebounded – the Isetta’s roadholding was exemplary.

What lay behind this was the overall design concept consisting of an all-steel body which rested on a trapezoidal tubular steel frame. The front wheels were mounted individually on longitudinal cranks whose movement was checked by coil springs and frictional shock absorbers. The rear axle was fixed to the body by two quarter-ellipse leaf springs and two telescopic shock absorbers.

Parking nose-in to the kerb.

Admittedly it was in towns that the bubble car, 2.28 metres long by 1.38 metres wide, scored the highest points. Fritz Fiedler gave the journalists the perfect tip for parking: “You drive into the parking space facing the kerb, park the car and get out at the front, straight on to the pavement. After nearly 25 years, BMW might pull out their old slogan again: Bigger inside than outside.” Thanks to the overall length of precisely 2 metres, 28 centimetres and 5 millimetres, even the meter maids turned a blind eye to this style of parking.

Plenty of elbow room inside.

Indeed the Isetta did offer a uniquely spacious driving experience. To quote again from the press release announcing the Motocoupé: “Large windows made of shatter-proof Plexiglas allow an open view in all directions. There are handles to open the sun-roof as well as the two quarter-lights that give draught-free ventilation. Two adults and a child can sit comfortably on the bench seat, with a full width of 1.18 metres, which can be adjusted forwards or backwards. The space between the seat and the front door is 70 cm, giving the occupants ample room for their legs and feet. Any restriction of the driver’s movements is avoided, not least by the fact that the gear lever is located on the left to save space and the remaining manual controls are conveniently grouped on the steering column.” The steering column was between the driver’s legs, to the left of it was the clutch pedal, and to the right the brake and accelerator. “Thanks to the swivelling quarter-lights, the sun-roof and the fan-heater, it is possible in all weathers and in any season to cover the longest distances in a comfortable environment.” Some people took this literally: it is on record that a married couple drove an Isetta from Sicily to Sweden in 62 hours.

Safe and considerate: a door with a knuckle-joint lock.

The characteristic feature of the Isetta, which brought it the nickname “Christmas car” (“Open wide the door…”), was incidentally not intended purely for the comfort of passengers getting in, but also designed to have environmental benefits. Development boss Fritz Fiedler argued it this way: “We even chose a special design for the door lock. No longer will people have to slam the door shut with a loud bang – the nocturnal terror of anyone living near a pub – because the door is closed silently and safely with a kind of knuckle-joint lock, which goes over a dead point. At the same time this prevents the door, if not properly closed, from swinging open when the brakes are applied.”

On that day, 5th March 1955, a grand total of two Isettas were available to journalists for them to put these promises to the test. This they did in good measure – and were delighted. They praised the “successful synthesis of motorcycle/scooter and four-seater car” and paid tribute to the unique concept of the Motocoupé. The Isetta was clearly distinct from the competition. In Germany alone more than 20 manufacturers were offering an enormous variety of bubble cars and small cars for all tastes and almost every purse. At that time necessity mated with invention to produce some strange offspring. Some had the occupants sitting one behind the other, tandem-style, and some even back to back.

Value for money: six months’ work for an Isetta.

The Isetta was a hit. BMW had been right about its “ideal solution of the motoring problem for everyone who needs a nippy and manoeuvrable vehicle with low running costs and no difficulties in parking or garaging. This means wage- and salary-earners going to work, doctors, salesmen, skilled tradespeople, representatives travelling for big firms, the self-employed and, not least, the lady of the house when her husband has taken the ‘big car’ out.” Apart from its technical qualities, a point in favour of the Motocoupé was the modest list price asked by BMW: just 2,550 deutschmarks. Good value, but not cheap. In those days a German worker earned an average of DM 90 per week, so he would have to work a good six months to buy an Isetta. The obligatory third-party insurance cost DM 95, and the taxman demanded an annual road tax of DM 44 for the “smooch-ball” – or “less than a dachshund in the city”, as the advertisements assured people.

1955: demand exceeds supply.

BMW had set a production target for the year 1955 of 11,200 Isettas; in the event the figure was considerably higher – but it still did not meet the demand. In the company’s annual report the Board proudly announced: “In the year 1955 the West German vehicle industry was able to increase production by a third. We shared fully in this expansion. Total sales from our plant in Munich-Milbertshofen rose by 46% to DM 138,000,000. The decline in our motorcycle business, which we had already indicated in previous years, has been halted by the timely introduction of the BMW Isetta Motocoupé, though the launch costs are being charged to the year just ended. With the increase in the Isetta’s production volume, the breakeven point was passed as early as the beginning of 1956 and so it was already contributing to the profitability of the factory. The BMW Isetta’s extraordinarily favourable reception in the market led to a rapid increase in output. Overall, since the start of production in April, which then rose to a volume of 2,000 units per month, no less than 12,911 units had been manufactured and sold by the end of 1955.” BMW produced as many Motocoupés as was physically possible – sometimes under the most adverse conditions. For example, workers would be assembling the bubble cars on the production line while, a few steps away, bricklayers were still busy repairing the war-damaged workshops. Even so, purchasers usually had to wait a month before they could take delivery of the Isetta they had ordered.

The finest car under 4,000 deutschmarks: the Isetta.

It soon turned out that the overwhelming majority of proud Motocoupé drivers were very satisfied with their choice: “And if anyone has had the slightest thing to complain about, up to now he has always been torn to pieces in an avalanche of readers’ letters,” reported the journalists in a trade magazine of the day, “Rollermobil und Kleinwagen”. The quirky profile of the Italian-born creation was even considered chic. So it was that in summer 1955, at the Bad Harzburg motor rally, the Isetta won the beauty contest in the under DM 4,000 price category.

By the middle of 1956, however, it seemed that the sharp rise was already being followed by an equally steep drop. The blame for this lay with two rumours. According to one, BMW’s competitors were planning new small cars – larger but just as good value. This was unsettling for potential Isetta buyers: BMW had in any case raised the Isetta’s price to DM 2,750, and the market reacted by holding on to their wallets. The second rumour did not improve things either: it was that BMW intended to cease production. In June the company went out of their way to deny this in the press: “A rumour has recently surfaced to the effect that manufacture of the BMW Isetta is going to be closed down due to the expiry of the licence and the appearance of a new and larger car. Exactly the opposite is true. The BMW Isetta assembly plant in Munich is currently being considerably enlarged, in order to increase still further the current daily output of 200 vehicles.”

More performance: the Isetta with a 300 cc engine.

The customers accepted the statement, the competing cars failed to materialize and sales picked up again. At the same time, in 1956, work began on expanding the range: the engineers enlarged the single cylinder to a 72 mm bore and 73 mm stroke, which yielded a cubic capacity of exactly 298, and at the same time they raised the compression ratio from 6.8 to 7.0:1. In this way the engine now generated 13 horsepower at 5,200 rpm, and the torque rose to 18.4 Newton metres at 4,600 revs. True, the maximum speed remained at 85 km/h, yet there was a marked increase in flexibility, chiefly noticeable on gradients.

In addition to the desire for more performance, a part in the choice of this engine variant was played by factors which lay quite outside BMW’s purview. Firstly, it was then still possible to drive the 250 cc Isetta with the old Class IV driving licence. Quite a number of Isettas were lovingly maintained by their owners for years and even decades, precisely because they possessed no other licence. On the other hand, from 1956 onwards, first-time drivers had to pass the test for Class III if they wanted to drive a car. True, the Class IV licence continued to be issued, but it was only valid for small motorcycles. A second, similar reason for fitting the larger engine was the prevailing tax regime. The 250 cc engine did not take full advantage of the tax class, which then went up to 300 cc.

1956: export version with improved fittings and technology.

In autumn 1956, BMW went on to introduce export versions of both variants. Externally they differed from the standard models by having a full-width front bumper, large sliding side windows, a collapsible soft top and chrome drip rails. But underneath the body even more had changed. In order to improve the ride, the swinging arm on the front axle had been lengthened, the springs enlarged and the frictional shock absorbers replaced by modern telescopic ones. In parallel with this the rear axle suspension was also new and adjusted for a softer ride. Both the earlier model, now called the Isetta Standard 57, and the new Isetta Export 57 were available with either the 250 cc or the 300 cc engine. Linked with the launch of the upgraded variant was a reduction in the price of the basic model to DM 2,490, whereas the export version cost DM 2,750.

The “Export” label was indeed entirely justified: as early as 1955, the Isetta’s resounding success in Germany was followed by a growing interest in the little bubble car not only in continental Europe but also overseas. BMW were not about to let this business slip away. Among others, export versions with the designation “Overseas model” and “USA model” were developed. The former was essentially distinguished by additional ventilation for the occupants and power unit as well as so-called “tropic-proof enhancements to all body, chassis and engine components”. This boiled down to “protection from attack by fungus and termites”. On request, BMW additionally offered overseas customers several special options: right-hand instead of left-hand drive, a cabriolet hood and a removable platform for a 200-kilogram payload, as well as strengthened suspension. These extras were so attractive that they were immediately offered to German customers as well. 

Bubble car instead of boulevard cruiser: 12,787 Isettas for the USA.

BMW also put together a special Isetta package for prospective buyers in the USA, mainly with changes necessary to meet legal requirements in that country. Thus the American version was given parking and side lights, different headlights, more powerful winkers and larger rear lights. There were also fold-out side windows and modified ventilation. If required, US buyers could also order a cabriolet roof and twin windscreen wipers instead of one. By September the first Isettas were on the high seas bound for the land of gas-guzzling limos, and by the end of the year some 1,200 units had been shipped out. Over its whole production life the Isetta found 12,787 buyers in the USA.

Even in 1957, a good two years after the launch of the Isetta, BMW was still garnering a great deal of praise for the bubble car. For example, one leading motor trade commentator of the day wrote of the 300 cc export model: “It is far easier to follow well-trodden paths and build a medium-powered car on proven lines for the well-heeled citizen than a runabout that will put no greater strain on the wallet of the man in the street than a motorcycle and sidecar might have done up to now.” Finally, he wrote of the Isetta: “This unconventional vehicle represents an unusually apt way of performing the tasks it is intended for, and a lot of hard development work has yielded something of great practical value.” In that year BMW built nearly 40,000 units – the greatest annual volume in the Isetta’s production history. Along with the Goggomobil, the “smooch-ball” had become the most successful vehicle of its kind in Germany, and many local me-too equivalents of the BMW Isetta appeared in Britain, Spain and even Brazil.

Competition from under the same roof: the BMW 600 and BMW 700.

Along with Germany’s Economic Miracle, by the end of the 1950s the demands of car buyers began to grow. The spartan microcars had passed their zenith, and customers were demanding proper automobiles. In 1957 BMW initially reacted by launching the 600, an Isetta with a longer wheelbase and a rear-mounted twin-cylinder horizontally opposed engine. By 1958 the tubby four-seater with its 19.5 bhp engine had ousted the Isetta from its place as the company’s number one revenue earner. With sales worth 75.5 million marks, the BMW 600 accounted for 39 percent of BMW’s turnover; the Isetta only managed DM 53 million or 27 percent. However, in 1959 the BMW 600 was replaced by a distinctly more modern design whose bodywork was created for the first time using a monocoque construction method: the BMW 700.

The two new product lines were now eating into the Isetta’s sales. In 1958 barely 22,000 Motocoupés rolled off the Munich production line, and a year later the figure was down to around 20,000. But as the BMW annual report stated: “The decline in domestic sales of the Isetta is balanced by a significant rise in shipments of CKD Isetta kits for assembly abroad.” Whereas in 1958 a mere 825 Motocoupé kits had been shipped worldwide, in 1959 the figure was 6,900.

The end of an era: production closes down in May 1962.

Nonetheless, the “egg on wheels” put up a brave fight against competition that was growing ever greater and more modern. This was chiefly due to its attractive price combined with high quality. At DM 2,650 for the 250 cc Isetta in 1960 and DM 2,710 for the 300 cc version, the little car was almost unbeatable on price. Even its tough competitor, the Goggomobil, was asking no less than DM 2,947 for its basic T250 model. In any case, the price review in a motor trade magazine in 1960 noted on the Isetta: “Price supplement for heater: DM 45, sliding roof is standard” – in those days it was the only German car that offered this extra on all production models. Only one vehicle in that list was even cheaper than the Isetta: the Messerschmitt KR 200 cabin scooter, at DM 2,395, heater included. But it didn’t help. In 1961 a motoring magazine put it like this: “However you look at the Isetta, it has had its day.” A year later BMW ceased production of the Isetta. A total of 161,728 units had been built. The report by the Board for 1962 noted succinctly: “After running down parts stocks, manufacture of the Isetta came to an end in May as planned.”