[2] This would involve BMW in challenging the dominance then enjoyed by Mercedes-Benz over a lucrative sector, with their 320 and 340 models.

BMW were producing, in their Eisenach plant, the model that would form the basis for the larger car.

The 335 sustained BMW’s reputation for innovation, being the first car to offer a four-speed gear box with full synchromesh on all ratios.

Frazer Nash had been BMW’s English importers since 1934,[2] and after the war BMW design chief Fritz Fiedler, the man primarily responsible for designing and developing the 335, would for several years work with Frazer Nash’s successor company in London.

Initially, aspects of Germany's peacetime economy persisted, and BMW were able to produce 335s at their Eisenach facility.