The three stripes beside the M mean, in BMW M’s own words: blue for the BMW brand, red for motorsport, and purple for the connection between the two. That is the official answer.
The unofficial answer is that the red came from an oil company sponsorship that fell through — and BMW M itself acknowledges the evidence for it while noting that one of the designers denied it and the archive holds no documents either way. That is a more honest account than the version usually told, and it is worth setting out properly.
Current BMW M logo with the three stripes. Wide format, transparent background, 1600×600 minimum.
What the colours officially mean
BMW M GmbH states it plainly: blue stands for the BMW brand, red for motorsport, and purple for the unique connection between them.
The purple is worth a note. Over the years it has drifted towards blue, so the middle stripe on a modern car is not the colour it was in the 1970s. Compare a current M4 badge with one on a period car and the difference is visible.
Where the design came from
BMW Motorsport GmbH was founded in 1972. It kept that name until 1993, when it became BMW M GmbH.
The first emblem was not the M and stripes we know. It was round: staggered semicircles in blue, purple and red with the BMW roundel of the parent brand at the centre. It appeared on the BMW 3.0 CSL in 1973.
According to Jochen Neerpasch, then head of racing and chairman of BMW M GmbH, the design came from the Swiss graphics agency Müller. Three people were involved: Neerpasch himself, BMW interior designer Wolfgang Seehaus and exterior designer Manfred Rennen.
The original round BMW Motorsport emblem, 1973 — staggered semicircles in blue, purple and red around the BMW roundel.
Square, transparent background, 1200×1200 minimum.
The Texaco question
The story that circulates is that the red stripe is Texaco red, left over from a sponsorship deal. BMW M’s own account does not dismiss it.
The evidence in favour: Wolfgang Seehaus’s 1972 design drafts for the 3.0 CSL carried the logo of the American oil company. Texaco’s red was most likely incorporated into the BMW Motorsport colour scheme at that stage.
Then the sponsorship negotiations with Texaco broke down at the end of 1972 — and the colours stayed.
The evidence against: Manfred Rennen, the exterior designer, claimed to have been involved in choosing the colour and denied the Texaco connection. There are no documents in the archive that settle it either way.
So the accurate position is that the Texaco explanation is plausible, supported by the surviving drafts, contested by one of the people who was there, and undocumented. Anyone stating it as fact is going beyond what BMW itself claims. Anyone dismissing it as a myth is doing the same in the other direction.
When the M and stripes arrived
The familiar M with three stripes first appeared on the BMW M1, presented in 1978 — the first car developed entirely in-house by BMW M GmbH. The M1 carried both the BMW roundel and the M logo, which is the arrangement still used today.
So the colours are from 1972, the round Motorsport emblem from 1973, and the M badge itself from 1978.
The 50th anniversary emblem
For its 50th anniversary in 2022, BMW M brought the original round Motorsport emblem back. From a production date of March 2022, US customers ordering an M car — M3, M4, X3 M and others — could have the front, rear and wheel hub badges replaced with emblems based on the classic BMW Motorsport logo. It was also offered on models with the M Sport package.
If you see a recent BMW wearing a round tricolour badge instead of the usual roundel, that is what it is: a factory option, not an aftermarket addition.
M is not the M in BMW
A coincidence that causes constant confusion. The M in BMW stands for Motoren — engines — as part of Bayerische Motoren Werke. The M in M3 stands for Motorsport, the division founded in 1972.
Two different words, same letter, no relationship between them.
M car versus M Sport package
The stripes appear on both, which is the source of a great deal of forecourt argument. The difference is not cosmetic:
- An M car — M3, M4, M5, X5 M — is built by BMW M GmbH with its own engine. Its VIN begins WBS rather than WBA.
- An M Sport package is a trim and suspension option on an ordinary BMW. The car keeps its standard engine and its standard VIN prefix.
Thirty seconds with our VIN decoder settles which one a given car is, and the method is explained in how to decode a BMW VIN.
The corporate roundel itself is a separate subject with its own history, covered in the BMW logo, every version.
Common questions
What do the BMW M colours mean?
BMW M states that blue represents the BMW brand, red represents motorsport, and purple represents the connection between them.
Is the red stripe from Texaco?
Unresolved. BMW M notes that 1972 design drafts for the 3.0 CSL carried the Texaco logo and that Texaco red was most likely incorporated, but the sponsorship talks collapsed at the end of 1972, one of the designers denied the connection, and the archive contains no documents settling it.
When was BMW M founded?
1972, as BMW Motorsport GmbH. It was renamed BMW M GmbH in 1993.
When did the M logo first appear?
The M with three stripes appeared on the BMW M1, presented in 1978. The round BMW Motorsport emblem came earlier, on the 3.0 CSL in 1973.
Why is the purple stripe now blue?
The violet has shifted towards blue over the decades. The middle stripe on a current M car is not the colour it was in the 1970s.
Does the M in BMW mean Motorsport?
No. It means Motoren, engines. The M in M3 means Motorsport. Different words.
Sources
- BMW M — History of the BMW M logo: the official meaning of the three colours, the 1973 round emblem on the 3.0 CSL, the designers involved, the Texaco drafts and Manfred Rennen’s denial, and the M logo debut on the M1.
- BMW Group PressClub — BMW M prepares for 50th anniversary: the return of the classic BMW Motorsport emblem on cars produced from March 2022.
- BMW Group PressClub — The BMW M story: the 1972 founding of BMW Motorsport GmbH.