New President Named at BMW Manufacturing Co.

SPARTANBURG, S.C., June 29 -- Professor Dr. Clemens Schmitz- Justen (pronounced: SMITS-HOUSTON) has been named president of BMW Manufacturing Co., succeeding Dr. Helmut Leube (pronounced: LOY-ba) who will become chief executive officer of the BMW Group factory in Munich. The leadership change will occur July 1.

Schmitz-Justen has been head of the Painted Body Division in the Research and Innovation Centre of the BMW Group in Munich, having been with the company since 1991. He holds a manufacturing engineering degree from Technical University of Aachen where he also received his doctorate in 1986.

He and his wife, Birgit, have two sons, Stephan and Philipp.

Leube, who became president of BMW Manufacturing in 2000, began his career with BMW in 1987, working in managerial positions in the areas of development and production. He, too, is a graduate of the Technical University of Aachen with master's and doctorate degrees in mechanical engineering.

He and his wife, Gupa, have two sons, Justin and Vincent.

The decision to build the Spartanburg plant in 1992 represented a major step in the internationalization strategy of the BMW Group. Today, the BMW X5 sports activity vehicle and Z4 roadster are produced exclusively at the Upstate South Carolina factory and shipped to 124 worldwide markets.

BMW Manufacturing Co. is a subsidiary of the BMW Group based in Munich, Germany, which has 23 production and assembly locations in 14 countries. Its website address is http://www.bmwusfactory.com/ . In addition to the South Carolina manufacturing facility, BMW's North American subsidiaries include sales, marketing and financial services operations in the United States, Canada and throughout Latin America, and a design firm in California.