I think Bristol licensed the cars from BMW
Short story: after WWII the Russians stole the plant and the British stole the design. Imagine if the Chinese were there to get a piece of the action...
"In the east, the company's factory at Eisenach was taken over by the Soviet Awtowelo group. Production of the R35 motorcycle was restarted in 1945, with the
321 automobile following late that year. A mildly revised
327 entered production in 1948, followed by the
326-based
340 in 1949. These were sold under the BMW name with the BMW logo affixed to them. To protect its trademarks, BMW AG legally severed its Eisenach branch from the company. Awtowelo continued production of the 327 and 340 under the
Eisenacher Motorenwerk (EMW) brand with a red and white version of the logo until 1955."
"In the west, the
Bristol Aeroplane Company (BAC) inspected the factory, and returned to Britain with plans for the 327 model and the six-cylinder engine as official war reparations. Bristol then employed BMW engineer Fritz Fiedler to lead their engine development team. In 1947, the newly formed Bristol Cars released their 400 coupé, a lengthened version of the BMW 327. that featured BMW's double-kidney grille."