"BMW PERFORMANCE SERIES" TO SHINE SPOTLIGHT ON URBAN ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Program To Benefit Community Scholarship Funds And Music Education

Woodcliff Lake, NJ - July 24, 2006... BMW of North America, LLC announced today
the launch of its BMW Performance Series, an urban arts and entertainment
program that includes the BMW Pop-Jazz Live Series, a seven-city tour featuring
innovative jazz saxophonist Mike Phillips; and the BMW Blackfilm.com Film
Series, a four-city independent black film screening series.

The BMW Pop-Jazz Live Series celebrates musical innovation by bridging jazz
artistry with soul, funk, pop, rock and hip-hop. The tour features Mike
Phillips, a NAACP Image Award nominee who has toured and collaborated with such
artists as Stevie Wonder and Prince, and appeared at venues around the globe.
Phillips has been the host and subject of jazz music showcases on Sirius
satellite radio, and recently collaborated with neo-soul sensation Jill Scott.
The tour will launch in New Orleans on August 17 and travel to Chicago,
September 14; Washington, D.C., September 19; New York, September 21; Atlanta,
September 28; San Francisco, October 10; and Los Angeles, October 12. Funds
raised through the BMW Pop-Jazz Live Series will support music education in
local communities through a partnership with the VH1 Save the Music
Foundation. VH1 will tape the Pop-Jazz Live event to be held in New York City
for future broadcast.

The BMW Blackfilm.com Film Series, now in its third year, showcases emerging
filmmakers and a diverse set of directors, actors and producers. The event will
include discussion panels with writers, directors, and cast members of the
screened films. The program benefits the college scholarship funds of local
chapters of the National Black MBA Association. The Series will launch with
"Premium." a Pete Chatmon picture featuring Hill Harper, with screening events
in Los Angeles, August 4; Chicago, August 11; Atlanta, August 25, and
Washington, D.C., September 28.

The BMW Performance Series is an invitation-only event.

"Independent thinking is vital to the creative process, whether the context is
film, music or creating the ultimate driving machine." said Tom Purves,
chairman and CEO of BMW of North America, LLC. "The BMW Performance Series
provides an opportunity to highlight creativity that we believe is the first of
its kind. Urban films and film-making garner public and critical acclaim yet
receive less attention than deserved from mainstream Hollywood. On the music
front, Pop-Jazz is a burgeoning genre that is engaging a younger audience
through its musical innovations."

"We created the BMW Performance Series to make a difference at the community
level while supporting films and music that have particular appeal to urban
audiences" said Angeli Gianchandani, National Experiential Marketing Manager,
BMW of North America.