Life Ball MINI 2008 by Agent Provocateur. Auction on eBay starts next week. Auction in aid of HIV/AIDS projects at www.ebay.at from 5 to 15 June 2008.

Munich/Vienna. Videos whirred and cameras clicked on Saturday, 17 May, when
Joseph Corre drove the Life Ball MINI 2008 over the red carpet outside Vienna's
City Hall in front of 40,000 spectators. Escorted by four models in "British
policemen's uniforms", and with Sophie Ellis Bextor in the passenger seat, the
arrival of the Life Ball MINI 2008 marked the start of the fantastic opening
show.

The Life Ball MINI is traditionally created by the fashion designer responsible
for the fashion show in the opening event - and in 2008, this was the British
lingerie label Agent Provocateur. This year, the new MINI Cooper Clubman was
selected as the basis for this exclusive, unique design. "The new shape is so
reminiscent of the old English Mini police van that we were immediately
inspired to create an Agent Provocateur styled interior that you really would
want to get banged up in! A classic yet suped up exterior in Agent Provocateur
signature pink and black colours complete with pink flashing light and
inside.....the most seductive prison cell with hand to wall cuffs and blacked
out windows and iron bars", says Agent Provocateur founder Joseph Corre.

The unique - and escape-proof - Life Ball MINI will once again be auctioned on
eBay, as happens each year. It all starts on Thursday, 5 June - and then MINI
and Agent Provocateur fans throughout the world have the opportunity for ten
days to buy this unique car and do something for charity too. The total
proceeds from the auction will be donated, as always, to Life Ball and to
projects aimed at combating HIV/AIDS. So far, the auction of the "Life Ball
MINIs" - transformed by such famous fashion icons as Diesel, Missoni, Ferré and
Versace - has raised a total of € 260,000.-.

Worldwide measures to combat HIV/AIDS are one of the main elements of the
corporate and social policy pursued by the BMW Group. The company's involvement
in South Africa is particularly wide-ranging, covering a comprehensive
workplace programme for employees and their families, plus a number of
different projects in the local communities and further afield.

But the automobile manufacturer is also committed to fighting this pandemic in
other affected countries, such as Thailand or China, for example. The company's
membership of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBC) underlines its
long-term commitment at its individual locations.

"By supporting Vienna's Life Ball, the MINI brand is going its own way and
making its own very individual contribution to the fight against this
auto-immune disease", says Andreas-Christoph Hofmann, Head of Brand
Communication MINI, commenting on the brand's involvement here. "The Life Ball
brings the pandemic back into the public's awareness each year in a very
emotional way, and the auction of each uniquely designed MINI produces a major
financial contribution to projects aimed at fighting HIV/AIDS."

Half of the proceeds will be donated to national projects in Austria. The other
half will be used to benefit international projects, with allocation of funds
regulated by the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR).

You will find further information on the corporate and social programmes
supported by the BMW Group at www.bmwgroup.com/responsibility.

Photos of the Life Ball MINI 2008 designed by Agent Provocateur can be
downloaded in high-resolution from the BMW Group PressClub at
www.press.bmwgroup.com.

For further questions please contact:

Corporate Communications

Giuseppe Faranna, BMW Group, Spokesperson Lifestyle MINI
Telephone: +49 (0)89 382- 51735, fax: +49 (0)89 382- 28017

Konstanze Carreras, Group Statements and Sustainability;
Social Responsibility. Telephone: +49 (0)89 382 -52894,
fax: +49 (0)89 382-28017

Media Website: www.press.bmwgroup.com
e-mail: presse@bmw.de