because BMW was founded by the merging of two aero engine manufacturers and the roundel represents the spinning of an aircraft propellors against a blue sky.
An engine manufacturer and a propeller manufacturer actually. was at a tour of a bmw factory in munich less than 3 weeks ago…
BMW:
"because Bavarian Motor Works was founded by the merging of two aero engine manufacturers and the roundel represents the spinning of an aircraft propellors against a blue sky."
Not really so. The colours of the Bavarian flag are blue & white chequers – also used by Lowenbrau etc, so that's why they picked those colours
The logo was born in 1962 when the Republic Steel of Cleveland approached the Steelers and suggested that they consider the Steelmark, the insignia used by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), as a helmet logo to honor Pittsburgh's steel heritage. The Steelmark logo, a circle enclosing three diamonds with inward-curving edges (see image on left) and the word 'Steel', was created by U.S. Steel Corp to educate consumers about the importance of steel in their daily lives.
The colors were chosen to promote the attributes for steel:
yellow lightens your work
orange brightens your leisure
blue widens your world
The logo's meaning was later amended to represent the three materials used to produce steel:
yellow for coal
orange for iron ore
and blue for steel scrap