Background
The BMW 2002 series is important in the history of BMW for several reasons, not the least of which it brought the company out of near bankruptcy in the 1960s and put BMW as a marque on the map in the United States. It was the ancestral grandfather to the BMW 3 Series and was produced from 1968 to 1976.
German BMW importer Max Hoffman is credited for the car's creation. He had suggested to BMW's engineering director that a 2.0 L engine should be installed into the small two-door 1600-2 to improve performance and emissions. The engineering director argued that the larger motor would not fit, but Hoffman countered that it certainly would fit; if he refused to put the motor in, Hoffman would personally take a car with the new engine to Georg Meier, a famous motorcycle racer, for installation. Almost immediately, this brought action, and the resulting 2002 (named after the new motor's displacement) was popular in its first year on sale stateside.
BMW's 2002 Series is credited for inventing the category for compact sporting sedans, a category widely popular now through models from various German, Japanese and American makes of small 2-door sedans with high-performance engines, suspensions and aggressive sports car-like features.
Read more about this topic: BMW 2002tii
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