HARMAN and Magneti Marelli Selected by BMW to Provide Next Generation Infotainment System

STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT – July 9, 2010: HARMAN, the premium audio and infotainment group, announced today that it has been selected by BMW AG, in partnership with global automotive supplier Magneti Marelli, to provide the next generation entry-level infotainment system for its luxury vehicle platforms. The new multimedia-driven system will offer BMW customers a sophisticated set of features including navigation, brilliant graphics, Internet access and wired or wireless connectivity never before available in entry-level systems. An embedded flash memory will provide dynamic navigation data which may be updated as required for current access to routes and road information.

The new infotainment system will blend open-platform technology from Magneti Marelli with Harman connectivity and mobile office expertise to enable a broad range of premium in-vehicle infotainment and connectivity applications. System features will include iSpeech, wireless connectivity, mobile office, navigation, and advanced telematics. Harman will produce and deliver the infotainment modules for BMW vehicles in the Asian markets and Magneti Marelli will serve the European markets. This marks the first time such a system has been developed for global application, with multiple-language speech and navigation software including a Chinese language navigation module for the high-growth Asia markets.

“We are delighted to expand our long-term partnership with BMW,” said Dinesh C. Paliwal, Harman’s Chairman, President and CEO. “This new award complements our previously-announced premium infotainment system at BMW and will expand the Harman offering to a larger audience of customers. We look forward to delighting new customers with this pioneering introduction to the world of full-featured infotainment.”

The new system will leverage Harman’s deep expertise in automotive infotainment applications including tuner technology, navigation, speech recognition, online and device connectivity as well as personal Internet radio functionality. The platform will feature a compact, cost-competitive computing solution built on the NVIDIAŽ system-on-a-chip (SOC) technology for scalable microprocessor power and graphic performance.

Magneti Marelli is a global automotive supplier, headquartered in Italy, that designs and produces advanced systems and components for the automotive industry. The company has a presence in 18 countries, about 32,000 employees and a turnover of 4.5 billion Euros in 2009.