BMW is probably even more clearcut than Apple - was it the iPod alone, or with iMac too etc? If you look up BMW Neue Klasse, it will say that range saved BMW but to be specific it was the 1500 then 1800 - without those 2 specific models BMW wouldn't exist as an independent today, if it existed at all. Audi was more gradual, you can look at the point 80 and 100 became A4 and A6 though arguably they were on the up before then. Still an interesting case, as the good times before were for Auto Union rather than the separate Audi.