The BMW Motorcycle in its 75th Year:

The year of its 75th anniversary was the most successful in BMW's motorcycle
history. With 60,308 retail deliveries worldwide, 1998 exceeded the 1997 record
level of 54,014 by 11.7% and the world market share of 5.8% was increased to
6.1%. On top of that, 1998 for the motorcycle division of BMW AG was the 6th
record year in succession. The 1998 production figures, too, reached an
all-time peak: 60,152 motorcycles - that is an increase of 9.5% over the
previous year (54,933). 51,869 two- and four-cylinder models of the R and K
Series were built at the BMW plant in Berlin. The company of Aprilia based in
Noale, Italy, assembled 8,283 single-cylinder machines of the F Series. The
renewed increase in sales also had its effects on the turnover of the
motorcycle division of BMW AG, causing it to rise from 1.1 to more than 1.2
billion deutschmarks.

BMW thus continued on its route of success started in 1990 and further expanded
its position as Europe's leading manufacturer of motorcycles above 500 cc. New
registrations which in 1989 were still around 28,134 units have more than
doubled in the space of ten years.

"Everything seems to fall into place: 75th anniversary, a new sales record and
now, to mark the beginning of a new year, victory of the Granada-Dakar Rally,"
says a jubilant Dr. Michael Ganal, head of the motorcycle division BMW AG
Munich. He goes on to say that "the basis of this continuing success is a
product offensive focusing on innovations and attractive design."

BMW's best-seller worldwide with 9,065 registrations in 1998 was the R 1200 C
launched in the autumn of 1997 as BMW's first entry into the important Cruiser
market segment. Following in second and third place of BMW's best-selling
models were the R 1100 RT (8,986) and the R 1100 GS (8,084).
In 1998, 63 percent of all BMW motorcycles were sold on the export markets.
Record highs were also achieved in two of BMW's most important export markets,
the United States (7,861 registrations) and Italy (6,737) as well as in Japan
(2,468).

Once more in 1998, BMW's main market was Germany, where 22,132 retail
deliveries not only marked an increase of 4.7% against the previous year
(21,137) but at the same time a new record high in its 75-year history. Again,
the R 1200 C at 3,513 registrations proved to be the best-seller, ahead of the
R 1100 GS (3,509) and R 1100 RT (2,587). The market share was expanded from
11.4 to 12.6%. In the class above 750 cc, BMW became market leader at 22.2%.
1998 was also characterized by an upward development for BMW in the government
business which at 2,523 units worldwide grew by 80% over the previous year
(1,396) - a share of 4.2% of the total business. Special mention should be made
of new orders for police motorcycles in the U.S., Taiwan and Italy.

The new sales and production records also had a very pleasant effect on BMW's
plant in Berlin. At the production facility of the two- and four-cylinder
series, an increasing demand and the unique, demand-oriented Berlin working
time model made it possible in 1998 to create approximately 100 new jobs so
that production increased by 21% over the previous year. During the same period
of time, the company invested about 30 million marks to step up motorcycle
production. One of the focal points of this investment was the modernization of
the paintshop in accordance with the latest environmental and quality
standards.

This year, the motorcycle production workforce is expected to increase by a
further 50 jobs from currently 1,460 to 1,510 employees. Over the next three
years, BMW will invest a total of 150 million deutschmarks in its Berlin
motorcycle production. Apart from expanding assembly lines, it is also
envisioned to take measures for process optimization in the area of assembly
and paintshop logistics.

Overall, the BMW plant in Berlin has 1,940 people on its payroll, including 480
in the production of brake disks, camshafts and trailing arms for BMW's car
production operations worldwide. Since the beginning of the 1990s, BMW has
invested a total of roughly half a billion deutschmarks in its Berlin-Spandau
plant.