In the event you’re a BMW fan within the US you need to learn about Max Hoffman. In some ways Hoffman was the one most vital determine in BMW’s early success within the U.S. singlehandedly and but he was undone by the identical audacity that earned him such reward. That is his story.
Because the model’s sole distributor from 1962 to 1975, Hoffman was each champion and cautionary story—a person whose religion in BMW introduced fashions just like the 2002 to a devoted viewers, however whose practices typically solid him as a self-serving antagonist within the marque’s historical past. His relationship with BMW, like many others he represented, was a tangled mixture of imaginative and prescient and volatility.
Hoffman’s story begins in Vienna, Austria, the place he was born in 1904 to a household with entrepreneurial roots. His father’s enterprise developed from a normal retailer to manufacturing stitching machines and bicycles, fueling Hoffman’s early ardour for racing. By 30, Hoffman had left racing to import European automobiles to Austria and export them to the Center East. However in 1938, with Austria below Nazi management and as a Jewish man, Hoffman fled first to Paris, then to New York two years later.
Touchdown in America, Hoffman initially deliberate to export U.S.-built vehicles to Egypt. When that enterprise failed, he pivoted to crafting metallized plastic jewellery, which thrived throughout wartime. This surprising success financed his reentry into the automotive enterprise. In 1947, he opened Hoffman Motors on Park Avenue with a single Delahaye. Inside a yr, Hoffman had secured Jaguar as his first main marque, and over time, he represented 21 manufacturers, together with Mercedes, Alfa Romeo, and Porsche. Hoffman’s affect spurred iconic fashions just like the Mercedes 300SL and Porsche Speedster, designed to cater to American tastes.
In 1954, Hoffman turned his sights on BMW. The corporate had simply resumed automotive manufacturing, with its V8-powered sedans and plans for a roadster and GT coupe aimed on the U.S. market. Hoffman, unimpressed by the proposed 528 roadster, recruited designer Albrecht von Goertz to pen the now-legendary BMW 507 and redesign the 503. Whereas the 507 is widely known as one in all BMW’s most lovely creations, its $10,000 price ticket proved disastrous. Hoffman’s promise to order 2,500 items dwindled to 300 yearly, and his failure to prepay for the automobiles left BMW on the monetary brink by 1959.
By then, BMW’s flirtation with chapter was averted solely by Herbert Quandt’s funding. Hoffman’s dealing with of the 507 and his declining portfolio of manufacturers—decreased to Lancia and Porsche by the early ’60s—made him a controversial determine. But BMW, unable to fund its personal U.S. distribution community, rehired him in 1962. Hoffman’s return coincided with the Neue Klasse’s debut, a game-changing midsize sedan lineup. Whereas the 1500 was underwhelming for American tastes, the 2000 and the customer-racing 1800 TI/SA discovered traction. The actual breakthrough got here with the 1600-2, later developed into the enduring 2002, which Hoffman initially doubted however enthusiastically embraced after its runaway success.
By the late ’60s, BMW gross sales within the U.S. had skyrocketed, thanks partly to sharp promoting and rave critiques. Hoffman additionally launched the Bavaria, a stripped-down, budget-conscious model of BMW’s giant sedan. Nonetheless, the mannequin was unprofitable for BMW, which quickly ceased providing giant automobiles stateside.
Regardless of rising gross sales, Hoffman’s relationship with BMW soured within the ’70s. His lax dealership requirements and erratic ordering practices annoyed Munich’s management. Sellers struggled with subpar service assist, whereas Hoffman profited handsomely. As new management at BMW scrutinized his operations, it grew to become clear that Hoffman’s priorities didn’t align with BMW’s long-term imaginative and prescient. By 1975, BMW extricated itself from Hoffman’s profitable contract, ending an period outlined as a lot by his audacity as his missteps.
Max Hoffman’s legacy is advanced. He undeniably championed European manufacturers in America, shaping the marketplace for efficiency automobiles. However his self-serving ways and contentious dealings left a blended imprint on BMW’s historical past—a historical past which may have been very totally different with out him.
