<P> BMW knew that it needed a four - seat family car to keep up with the rising wealth and expectations of the German people, but it could not access funding to develop a new car for this market . They therefore developed the 600, a four - seat car based on the Isetta . The 600 used the front suspension, the front seats, and the front - mounted door from the Isetta, but used a new, longer ladder frame with a longer, four - seat body, a rear - mounted 0.6 L flat - twin motorcycle engine, and a full - width rear track . The 600's rear suspension was BMW's first use of the semi-trailing arm system that would be used on their sedans and coupes until the 1990s . Released in 1957, the 600 could not compete against the larger, more powerful Volkswagen Beetle . Production ended in 1959 after fewer than 35,000 were built . </P> <P> By 1959, BMW was in debt and losing money . The Isetta was selling well but with small profit margins . Their 501 - based luxury sedans were not selling well enough to be profitable and were becoming increasingly outdated . Their 503 coupé and 507 roadster were too expensive to be profitable . Their 600, a four - seater based on the Isetta, was selling poorly . The motorcycle market imploded in the mid-1950s with increased affluence turning Germans away from motorcycles and toward cars . BMW had sold their Allach plant to MAN in 1954 . American Motors and the Rootes Group had both tried to acquire BMW . </P> <P> At BMW's annual general meeting on 9 December 1959, Dr. Hans Feith, chairman of BMW's supervisory board, proposed a merger with Daimler - Benz . The dealers and small shareholders opposed this suggestion and rallied around a counter-proposal by Dr. Friedrich Mathern, which gained enough support to stop the merger . At that time, the Quandt Group, led by half - brothers Herbert and Harald Quandt, had recently increased their holdings in BMW and had become their largest shareholder . By the end of November 1960, the Quandts owned two - thirds of BMW's stock between them . </P> <P> By this time BMW had launched the 700, a small car with an air - cooled, rear - mounted 697 cc boxer engine derived from the engine powering the R67 motorcycle . It was available as a 2 - door sedan and as a coupe, both versions having been designed by Giovanni Michelotti . There was also a more powerful RS model for racing . </P>

Who was bmw nearly sold to in 1959