The early Fifties were a very unique period within the history of automotive design.
Europe was wanting to leave the tragedy of the Second war behind and to celebrate, also though new individual sorts of mobility, its newfound peace.
BMW’s luxury of the 1950s were technically brilliant, beautifully built, fast and stylish - but thanks to their huge cost and austere times in their home market, they were selling extremely slowly. So, so as to secure more volume, BMW made the choice to accumulate the licence to create the Isetta bubblecar - and it proved to be an ingenious piece of heuristic by BMW management.
The Isetta was just what was needed, and because the effects of the Suez Crisis began to hit, and petrol became a rare commodity, suddenly the motorcycle engine car that would achieve 50mpg all day long made an excellent deal of sense. Front-hinged door and three wheeled handling were questionable, but buyers loved them. But it had been a shortlived honeymoon, and as proper small cars just like the Mini hit the market, sales dissolved.
They're cool today though and have a substantial following.