THE SUCCESS STORY CONTINUES: MINI REACHES 1.5 MILLION

New MINI surges ahead as iconic brand celebrates its 50th birthday with significant sales highpoint

Woodcliff Lake, NJ – July 6, 2009. Just weeks after celebrating MINI’s 50th birthday, another landmark was reached today as the 1.5 millionth car rolled off Plant Oxford’s production line in the UK, since the launch of the new MINI in 2001.

BMW Group board member, Ian Robertson and UK Business Minister Ian Lucas MP joined a group of Plant Oxford apprentices as the Chili red MINI Clubman cleared the end of the production line.

Since production started at Oxford in 2001, MINI has become a global phenomenon, winning plaudits and awards all over the world and is now sold in more than 80 countries, including the US where it continues to outperform the market.

Ian Robertson, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for Sales and Marketing, said: “This is a great day for the plant and a wonderful milestone to reach in the 50th birthday year of MINI. The very first classic Mini rolled off the production line here at this plant on 8 May 1959.

“It was wonderful to see the passion that owners feel for MINI at the car’s recent birthday celebrations at Silverstone, when 25,000 people from around the world joined the party. It is a privilege to be part of the heritage and future of this car.”

Robertson added, “This is a tough time for the automobile industry and no business is immune from its challenges, but MINI is an extremely resilient brand with huge customer appeal and we have seen a strengthening order bank in recent months. We will launch a number of new models in the coming years and we are optimistic for the future.”

The US continues to play a strong and growing role in MINI’s worldwide sales success. Already, MINI sells more in the US than any other market. Last month, MINI USA reported sales of 4,105 automobiles and year-to-date, MINI USA also reported sales of 20,885 automobiles.

“In June, we saw consumers coming back into dealerships in some metro areas like Boston, New York and Los Angeles and that's encouraging,” said Jim McDowell, Vice President of MINI USA.  “The positive results in those three areas have helped to decouple MINI somewhat from the industry decline and we continue to outperform the market by a wide margin.”

MINI USA has confirmed its intention to expand its 83-strong US dealer network by 20 percent during the next 18 months to a total of 100 outlets across the country.

Background Information
BMW Group has invested more than $500 million in Plant Oxford since 2001 and a further $160 million in the Hams Hall and Swindon plants, which make up the MINI “Production Triangle” in the UK. The Group employs more than 7,000 people in the UK, and its activities account for 1 percent of the country’s GDP.

In the 41 years between 1959 and 2000, 5.3 million classic Minis were built, so the total when combined with new MINI volume is 6.8 million cars.

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Journalist notes: video footage (B-roll edit) including soundbites with Ian Robertson, Plant Director Juergen Hedrich, and shots of the 1.5 millionth MINI coming off the production line can be viewed and downloaded from the following ftp site:

Site address: ftp://ftp.pfpr.com
User name: mini
Password: usausa

MINI in the US
MINI is an independent brand of the BMW Group. In the United States, MINI USA operates as a business unit of BMW of North America, LLC which has been present in the United States since 1975. Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003. The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and the Rolls-Royce brand of Motor Cars; DesignworksUSA, a strategic design consultancy in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and various other operations throughout the country. BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is part of BMW Group’s global manufacturing network and is the exclusive manufacturing plant for all X5 Sports Activity Vehicles and X6 Sports Activity Coupes. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 338 BMW passenger car centers, 335 BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 142 BMW motorcycle retailers, 83 MINI passenger car dealers, and 30 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers. BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group’s sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

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Information about BMW Group products is available to consumers via the Internet at:

www.bmwgroupna.com
www.miniusanews.com

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Information about the BMW Group and its products is available to journalists on-line at the BMW Group PressClub at the following address: www.press.bmwgroup.com/us.html. Broadcast quality video footage is available via The NewsMarket at www.thenewsmarket.com.

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