POP ART PIONEER ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG TO APPEAR AT FIRST EVER UNIFIED INSTALLATION OF FAMED BMW ART CAR AND "BEAMER" ENAMELED ALUMINUM COLLAGES

NAPLES, FL, JANUARY 24, 2001...Legendary American artist Robert Rauschenberg
will inaugurate the first-ever combined exhibition of his BMW 635 CSi Art Car
and iconoclastic "Beamer" collage series at the Eckert Fine Art private gallery
in Naples, Florida. The exhibition, which opens January 30 and runs through
February 10, marks the first BMW Art Car collection appearance in the United
States since the debut of the Jenny Holzer Art Car in September 2000 in
Atlanta. This marks the first time that the "Beamer" series will be publicly
exhibited; and the car and spin-off paintings - which extend the Art Car motifs
- have never appeared together as part of a unified installation until now.

The BMW Art Car was conceived in 1975, the year that French auctioneer and
racecar driver Herve Poulain first entered 24 Hours of Le Mans. Searching for
a link between art and motorsport, Poulain asked his friend, noted artist,
Alexander Calder to commission a rolling canvas on the BMW 3.0 CSL that he
would race. In the years that followed, this unique combination of motorsport
and BMW design fascinated the famous artists of our time. Frank Stella, Roy
Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol have all turned BMW racing cars into Art Cars.

The Rauschenberg BMW 635 CSi Art Car - the sixth addition to BMW's collection
of 15 Art Cars - is the first in which the artist used photographic methods to
transfer images (including images of famous, classical paintings) to the car.
Rauschenberg extended his use of Art Car motifs in his six-part, 1988 "Beamer"
series - presented as transparent films on enameled aluminum and using his
trademark collage techniques. The paintings will be offered for sale from the
artist's private collection.

"We are absolutely thrilled to exhibit the BMW Rauschenberg Art Car along with
the original collage series inspired by the car," said Tom Purves, Chairman and
CEO, BMW of North America, LLC. "Robert Rauschenberg's innovative synthesis of
art and automobile represents the pioneering spirit which BMW treasures."

The Rauschenberg car made its first appearance in 1986 at the BMW Gallery on
Park Avenue in New York City, and in 1988 made its European debut in West
Berlin. Since then it has been exhibited across Europe and was a centerpiece
of the acclaimed 1997 Rauschenberg retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in
New York City.

"We are proud to play a part in reuniting Robert Rauschenberg with the BMW Art
Car he painted in 1986 and to offer for acquisition for the first time the six
unique paintings entitled "Beamer", said Mindy Taylor Wilson, Director of
Contemporary Art, Eckert Fine Art. "The opportunity to work with BMW in
telling the story of their collaboration with Rauschenberg has shown us that
BMW is truly an innovative and creative company who shares in the passion of
the international language of fine art."

Born in Port Arthur, Texas in 1925, Rauschenberg is recognized as one of the
20th century's most influential and prolific artists. He is credited with
bridging the gap between the movements of Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art.
A pioneer of the "Transfer Drawing" process, he experimented in technologically
sophisticated combinations of photographs and drawings. As such, his trademark
BMW Art Car design includes trompe l'oeil images of Bronzino's 16th century
painting "Portrait of Young Man" and Ingres's "Odalisque."

Chronological list of all BMW Art Cars:

Alexander Calder (USA) 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL
Frank Stella (USA) 1976 BMW 3.0 CSL
Roy Lichtenstein (USA) 1977 BMW 320i Group 5 Race Version
Andy Warhol (USA) 1979 BMW M1 Group 4 Race Version
Ernst Fuchs (Austria) 1982 BMW 635 CSi
Robert Rauschenberg (USA) 1986 BMW 635 CSi
Michael Jagamara Nelson (Australia) 1989 BMW 635 CSi
Ken Done (Australia) 1989 BMW M3 Group A Race Version
Matazo Kayama (Japan) 1990 BMW 535i
César Manrique (Spain) 1990 BMW 730i
A.R. Penck (Germany) 1991 BMW Z1
Esther Mahlangu (South Africa) 1991 BMW 525i
Sandro Chia (Italy) 1992 BMW 3 Series Racing Prototype
David Hockney (Great Britain) 1995 BMW 850CSi
Jenny Holzer (USA) 1999 BMW V12 LMR

BMW Group in America
BMW of North America has been present in the United States since 1975. Since
then, the BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales
and financial service organizations for the BMW, BMW Motorcycles and MINI
brands; a South Carolina manufacturing operation; DESIGNWORKS/USA, an
industrial design firm in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and
various other operations throughout the country. The BMW Group is represented
in the U.S. through a network of 341 car, 321 Sports Activity Vehicle and 153
motorcycle retailers. BMW US Holding Corp., the Group's headquarters for
North, Central and South America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

Information about BMW Group products is available to consumers via the World
Wide Web on the BMW homepage at http://www.bmwusa.com,
http://www.bmwmotorcycles.com and http://www.miniusa.com.

Eckert Fine Art was established in 1973 in Indianapolis, Indiana and in 1997
the Naples, Florida location was opened. Eckert's Naples gallery began working
directly with Rauschenberg in the late '90s and has come to specialize in the
best in modern and contemporary art.