Bavaria is the German state represented by the blue and white colors associated with BMW’s roundel.
BMW’s name comes from Bayerische Motoren Werke, or Bavarian Motor Works, linking the company directly to Bavaria. The company’s headquarters are in Munich, the state capital, and BMW’s emblem uses alternating blue and white sections inside a black ring.
Those colors recall Bavaria’s traditional flag and heraldic identity, which are historically connected to the Wittelsbach dynasty. The design is not simply a miniature Bavarian coat of arms: German commercial law restricted the direct use of state arms, so BMW used a related blue-and-white pattern instead.
Another persistent misconception is that the roundel originally depicts an aircraft propeller. A 1929 BMW advertisement helped popularize that interpretation by placing the logo over a spinning propeller, but the blue-and-white design predates the advertisement and primarily evokes Bavaria. Brandenburg, Hesse and Saxony have different historical colors and are not the state represented here.