BMW Rapp Concept

It’s not often you get a concept car and a history lesson all in one. But the BMW Rapp concept designed by Dejan Hristov manages to provide both.

The roots of this concept are founded in the fact that BMW will officially celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2017.  However the man who provided the foundations of the company, German engineer Karl Friedrich Rapp, actually started his business in 1913 – under the name Rapp Motorenwerken GmbH. It quickly expanded, employing 370 workers by 1915. However he wasn’t in the business of making cars, instead Rapp Motorenwerken GmbH made aircraft engines used by the German army during the First World War. In 1917 Rapp stepped down as managing director of the company he founded. Almost immediately it was renamed Bayerische Motoren Werke GmbH, or BMW for short.

Taking this little snippet of history into account. Hristov has – rightly in my opinion – decided that 2013 should also be a celebrated year for BMW. Because without Karl Rapp and his initial company, BMW would never have come into existence. It seems BMW’s current bosses have decided to forget the man who made all their careers possible.

The BMW Rapp concept is therefore a tribute to Karl Rapp and his short but pivotal role in BMW’s history.

The BMW Rapp concept is a two seat roadster with extremely aggressive styling. Influence for the concept is said to come from numerous past and present BMW models. For example the front grille is set at an angle, recalling the ‘shark nose’ BMW’s like the 635 CSi. While the high positioning of the exhausts was inspired by the 1937 BMW 328 Bugelfalte Roadster. The design of the hood is styled to accentuate the engine in a tribute the the large aircraft engines Karl Rapp designed.

This being just one man’s digital creation, the BMW Rapp concept has no chance of making it to production. However it’s a thoughtful homage to one of the automotive world’s forgotten founding fathers.