The Italian-designed microcar BMW produced from 1955 to 1962 was the Isetta.
The Isetta originated with Iso SpA, an Italian company whose products included refrigerators, scooters, and small commercial vehicles. Engineers Ermenegildo Preti and Pierluigi Raggi created the tiny car in the early 1950s, and Iso presented it to the public in 1953. Its egg-shaped body and bubble windows earned it the nickname “bubble car.”
BMW acquired a licence and body tooling, then substantially re-engineered the design for German production. The BMW version used a single-cylinder motorcycle engine, a front-opening door, and a narrow rear track. The first BMW Isetta appeared in April 1955, followed by the larger-engined Isetta 300 in 1956.
BMW ended Isetta production in May 1962 after building 161,728 examples. The car is sometimes mistakenly treated as an entirely German invention, but the original design was Italian. It is also distinct from the Goggomobil, Fiat 500, and Messerschmitt KR200, which were separate postwar small-car designs.