Heinrich Baumgartner and Klaus Brand founded a small production plant in Schiltach manufacturing plastic chassis parts. The initials of the two founders and the location of the plant resulted in the company name BBS.

The company started to manufacture a new type of three-piece racing wheels. With just a few years, the new technology led to guaranteed success in the world of motorsport. What started out as just an idea swiftly became a successful manufacturing company.

BBS took its success of its three-piece racing wheels and perfected it for series production for use on normal roads. The RS wheel was born. This wheel flew off the shelves to become a complete hit. In the same year, BBS also founded the subsidiaries BBS of America und BBS Japan Ltd.

The previous GmbH & Co. KG started trading as BBS Kraftfahrzeugtechnik AG and went public. The shares were listed in Frankfurt and Stuttgart.
Klaus Brand moved from the management board to the supervisory board and Heinrich Baumgartner became chairman of the management board. Martin Braungart became responsible for the technical management department. The third member of the board of directors was Klaus Bukenberger who was responsible for business operations and sales.

In its 20th year, BBS surpassed 200 million DM in turnover and was now one of the most important suppliers of automobile manufactures such as Audi, BMW and VW as well as of numerous successful racing teams worldwide.

This year was the most successful motorsport year in the company's history up to this date: Formula One, the IndyCar Series, the DTM and ADAC world championships were all won on BBS wheels.

The company celebrated its 25-year anniversary. To mark the occasion, BBS set new standards for light alloy wheels with its new RSII wheel. The wheel combined proved quality and trend-setting innovation.
Michael Schumacher won the second Formula One championship on BBS wheels with Benetton Renault.

BBS acquired further important customers in the automobile industry including DaimlerChrysler, Porsche, Ferrari and Jaguar. And an additional manufacturing plant was founded in Herbolzheim near Freiburg.

A new 7,000 sqm storage and logistics centre was opened in March at the manufacturing plant in Herbolzheim.
BBS won the Formula One championship with Ferrari and Michael Schumacher and became GP 500 world champion with Suzuki and Kenny Roberts.
BBS achieved a significant growth in turnover and profit and celebrated record growth.

BBS supplied six Formula One teams with a total of twelve vehicles. During the month of August, a 8,000 sqm new paint finish centre was opened at Herbolzheim.
BBS won the Formula One championship for the second time with Ferrari and Michael Schumacher as well as becoming GP 125 world champion with Gilera and Manuel Poggiali.

2002
The new paint finish centre in Herbolzheim was named as the most environmentally friendly in Germany by the Federal Environment Minister. BBS won the Podio Award for its development of innovative solutions for Ferrari, the Ferrari Formula One team and Maserati GT vehicles and was also recognised as a supplier of outstanding quality.
Michael Schumacher became Formula One champion for the fifth time on BBS wheels and for the third time in a row for Ferrari. The Abt team won the DTM with Laurent Aiello in an Audi TT-R fitted with BBS wheels.

2003
An important development was made in the manufacturing process: the dry processing of aluminium wheels. This process, implemented for the first time worldwide, saves on raw material and once again underlined the position of BBS as a leader in the field of both motorsport and environmental protection.

This year saw the introduction of another new breakthrough technology: Air Inside Technology. The hollow chamber technology not only results in weight reductions but also in improved stability. Michael Schumacher became Formula One champion for the seventh time on BBS wheels.

BBS completed its third expansion phase at its plant in Herbolzheim. For the first time in the company's history, vehicles fitted with BBS wheels took part in the Dakar Rally. The X-Raid Team under the leadership of Quandt underwent the hardest of tests in a BMW X3 fitted with BBS wheels.

2006

2007
During the spring, BBS won all of the "Best Brand" awards by the auto press in Stuttgart. The readers of "auto motor und sport", "sport auto", "4 wheel fun" and "Motor Klassik" awarded the titles to BBS who beat its competition by a considerable margin.
Schiltach, 6th August: a new chapter in BBS history was written. The Belgium company Punch International NV took over BBS International GmbH. The group, headquartered in Sint Martens Latem, is a diversified industrial holding company that employs more than 3,000 people worldwide. (For more information, please visit www.punchinternational.com.)
BBS continues to develop and manufacture light alloy wheels for motorsport and general use at its two plants in Germany ensuring that the wheels from the Black Forest remain synonymous with high quality and innovation "made in Germany".