BMW Group Achieves New Sales Record of Over 905,000 Cars in 2001

- US Sales up Four Times in the Last 10 Years to More Than 213,000 Vehicles; Sales Increase in Germany Despite General Decline in the Market; Positive Outlook for 2002BMW 760Li and MINI Cooper S Making Their Debut in the US -

DETROIT, and MUNICH, Germany, Jan. 7 -- The BMW Group once again set up a new sales record in 2001, delivering a total of 905,653 BMW and MINI cars to customers -- an increase by 10.2 per cent over the previous year (822,181 units). This record figure results from the success of the BMW brand with sales up by 7.1 per cent to 880,688 units and from the successful sales of MINI cars amounting to 24,965 units. This was announced today by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Joachim Milberg, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, on the occasion of the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. In the last month of 2001 customer deliveries by the BMW Group increased by 7.1 per cent to 73,759 units, 65,861 of which were BMW cars (previous year 68,844 units) and 7,898 MINIs. Demand was greatest in the year 2001 for the BMW 3 Series delivered to 534,255 customers worldwide (previous year 509.007 units), followed by 194,321 5 Series (previous year 191.546 units). Sales of the BMW X5 were also extremely positive, more than doubling to 82,705 units following deliveries of 38,282 units in the previous year. Capacities for production of the X5 at the BMW plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, were increased accordingly. Milberg: "The BMW Group sees developments in the year 2002 in a positive light. We expect ongoing growth and a further positive development of business." In the year 2002 the BMW Group will consistently continue its product and market offensive, introducing the new BMW 7 Series as well as the MINI brand into the overseas markets outside Europe. To meet substantial demand expected also in 2002, the BMW Group plans to work additional shifts at the various plants. In all, 28 additional shifts have already been agreed for this purpose with the Works Council at the BMW plants in Munich and Regensburg. And in response to significant demand for the new BMW 7 Series, special production activities are also planned at the Dingolfing plant.

Sales growing in all major car markets The BMW Group's positive trend in the German market continued once again in 2001. With the overall market showing a slight decline, 245,848 (previous year: 240,574) BMW and MINI cars were delivered to customers. Amounting to 240,910 units, sales of BMW cars once again reached the very high figure achieved in the previous year and were supplemented by approximately 4,938 MINI One and Cooper models delivered to customers in Germany. In the USA BMW delivered more than 200,000 cars to customers for the first time in 2001, thus doubling sales in the US market in the last five years and achieving a four-fold increase in the course of the last 10 years. In all, customer deliveries were up by 12.5 per cent or 23,704 units to a new record figure of 213,127 cars (previous year: 189,423 units). The high figures recorded in the year 2000 were exceeded almost every month. In spring 2002 the MINI brand will be introduced in the US market, with the MINI Cooper and Cooper S. BMW sales in Canada also developed very positively in 2001, BMW Canada increasing its sales volume by 15.2 per cent to 12,702 units (previous year 11,022 units), once again a new record. BMW Group sales continued to grow also in other major car markets in the year 2001: Great Britain recorded sales of 80,228 BMW cars (+17.4 per cent, previous year 68,349 units) and 10,643 MINIs, Italy was up to 46.015 BMW cars (+4.9 per cent, previous year 43,861 units) and 3,015 MINIs, France showed sales of 35,514 BMW cars (+4.8 per cent, previous year 33,884 units) and 2,000 MINIs, Spain reported a sales figure of 29,715 BMW cars (+7.7 per cent, previous year 27,586 units) and 1,025 MINIs, Belgium increased to 23,740 BMW cars (+6.1 per cent, previous year 22,371 units) and 745 MINIs, South Africa recorded a sales volume of 19,174 BMW cars (+20.0 per cent, previous year 16,255 units), and Switzerland reported a sales volume of 14,576 BMW cars (+15.8 per cent, previous year 12,588 units) plus 588 MINIs. The BMW brand also showed outstanding performance in the Asian markets, in some cases achieving very high growth rates confirming the potential of these markets: Japan accounted for 35,777 BMWs (-0.4 per cent, previous year 35,928 units), China saw sales of 5,742 BMWs (+51.2 per cent, previous year 3,797 units), South Korea reported a sales volume of 2,717 BMW cars (+67.1 per cent, previous year 1,626 units), and the new BMW Subsidiaries established in early 2001 in the Philippines and Indonesia accounted for sales, respectively, of 500 BMW cars (+96.9 per cent, previous year 254 units) and 2,749 BMWs (+13.7 per cent, previous year 2,418 units).

BMW motorcycles reports ninth record year in a row Delivering 84,713 motorcycles to customers (+13.5 per cent, previous year 74,614 units), BMW Motorrad made 2001 its ninth record year in a row. In December alone 4,927 motorcycles were delivered to customers, 1,159 more than in the same month last year (+30.8 per cent, previous year 3,768 units). The development of motorcycles sales in the individual markets was also very positive, sales in Germany increasing in the year 2001 to 24,704 BMW motorcycles (+5.5 per cent, previous year 23,427 units), in the USA to 13,000 units (+7.9 per cent, previous year 12,047 units), in Italy to 10,250 units (+12.1 per cent, previous year 9,141 units), in France to 7,210 units (+45.6 per cent, previous year 4,953 units), in Great Britain to 3,400 units (+22.8 per cent, previous year 2,768 units), in Switzerland to 2,356 units (+34.6 per cent, previous year 1,750 units) and, finally, in Canada to 920 units (+24.3 per cent, previous year 740 units). In the same period 10,614 BMW C1s (+59.4 per cent, previous year 6,649) were delivered to customers.

BMW 760Li and MINI Cooper S make their US debut The BMW Group revealed the new flagship of the new 7 Series, the 760Li, at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this year. The long- wheel base version is powered by a 12-cylinder developing maximum output of more than 300 kW or 408 bhp. The new BMW 7 Series sets new standards in its class in terms of dynamic performance and motoring comfort. Together with the innovative, intuitive iDrive control concept and through its revolutionary design, the new BMW 7 Series has already established its position as the world benchmark right at the top of the luxury performance segment. A further highlight in Detroit is the MINI brand within the BMW Group opening up the premium segment in the compact car range. At the Detroit Show the MINI Cooper S (120 kW/163 bhp) is making its debut in the USA as the most powerful model in the range.