Opel aimed to cover a large part of the market and engaged in some racing. (at that time it was essential to do so to become known), but its small cars were the most important. 1912, the fiftieth anniversary of its birth coincided with the production of its ten thousandth car. The firm alternated mass production of popular small cars with luxury models. It was the former, however, such as the P?ppchen and the Laubfrosch that gave it success and esteem. In 1929 Opel sold most of its shares to General Motors.
Ford entered the German market at almost the same time as General Motors (1925), by opening an efficient assembly workshop with only 37 employees. Rather than an assembly shop this initial establishment provided premises for the customs clearance of cars imported to the United States. It was in 1926 that Ford began assembly work and on April 18 of that year that the first Model T Ford was put on the market. By 1929 Ford began building a new factory in Cologne. By 1937 the factory had 40,000 employees and production was above 600,000 units.
BMW was another illustrious make whose origin was the result of the merger in 1916 of Rapp and Custav Otto, two firms from Munich. The new firm was initially known as Bayerische Flugzeugwerke and then in 1917 as Bayerische Motoren Werke. It manufactured engines for airplanes at first and then engines for motorcycles. BMW became involved with cars in 1928 when it bought the manufacturing licence to the Dixi. In 1931 it began to produce cars entirely of its own design. The 328 was announced in 1936 and contained many innovations (mass produced light alloy cylinder heads, overhead valves arranged in a V, three up-draft carburetors and a radiator for cooling the oil). Despite this only 462 examples of the car were built. Subsequently, without abandoning motorcycles, BMW concentrated on the growing luxury car market.