MINI USA Launch Exceeds Expectations - Jack Pitney Credits Innovative Marketing, Enthusiastic Dealers On Road to Success

Detroit, MI -- May 7th, 2003... One year after the MINI brand was launched in
the U.S., its brand awareness has more than quadrupled and sales have exceeded
expectations by fifty percent, according to Jack Pitney, General Manager for
MINI USA, in a speech to the Automotive Press Association in Detroit today.

Brand Awareness Quadrupled in 18 Months
In the fall of 2001, MINI brand awareness was just 12 percent, Pitney said.
After going on sale in March 2002, brand awareness had grown to 53 percent by
December 2002 -- a substantial feat considering the brand was launched without
a national television campaign, often considered a crucial element in
successfully launching an automotive brand.

"Our brand awareness continues to grow steadily despite being nearly unknown
less than two years ago," said Pitney. "The U.S. is now MINI's largest market
outside of the UK where it has enjoyed icon status for over 40 years."

Innovative Marketing Helped Establish the Brand
"Rather than implement the traditional advertising blitz associated with
launches, the company relied on "out-of-the-box" thinking and grass roots
tactics to generate groundbreaking buzz," Pitney said. "While low brand
awareness in this market presented a challenge, it also gave us the luxury of
starting with a clean slate."

"It was important for us to identify the MINI customer," Pitney said, "since
MINI's appeal is not limited to a demographic boundary. Instead, MINI
customers have similar psychographic qualities - what we call the "MINI
mindset," and our marketing had to be relevant to all of them. The youngest
MINI buyer is 15 and the oldest one 97!"

Innovative pre-launch tactics included MINI riding atop SUVs, and "sitting" in
the stands during major league football games. Even print media was utilized in
non-traditional ways. In two of the executions, MINI was "cornering" editorial
text on page margins and zigzagging between orange staples at the centerfolds.
These proved to be uncharted media buys. In a 2002 Playboy spread, MINI posed
for the iconic Playboy Centerfold, which was photographed by an actual staff
photographer and given final approval by Hugh Hefner himself.

Strong Retail Environment Supported Successful Launch
Pitney credited MINI dealers with helping to build the brand, too. Dealers
have created architectural separation for MINI showrooms, which dispense
literature from vending machines and have sound walls of music cds for test
drives.

Many of the 71 dealers build MINI's customer loyalty with events that continue
the playful mindset conveyed in the brand marketing. Halloween scavenger hunts
and Valentine's Day road rallies have drawn hundreds of MINI customers.

"We aim to emulate MINI's icon status in the UK," continued Pitney. "The best
way to do that is to have it rub against popular American icons." MINI's 2003
ad campaign has the car in the getup of popular automotive TV icons of the 70's
and 80's including Knight Rider's K.I.T.T, The Partridge Family bus, The Dukes
of Hazzard's General Lee and Starsky and Hutch's signature red and white Ford
Grand Tourino.

MINI launched in March of 2002 with a modest sales target of 20,000 units in
that year. By the end of March 2003, the brand had seen sales for just over
30,000 cars. In addition to being named North American Car of the Year, MINI
has received more than 30 other awards.

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 and MINI brands and Rolls-Royce
Motor Cars; DesignworksUSA, an industrial design firm in California; a
technology office in Silicon Valley and various other operations throughout the
country. BMW Manufacturing Corp. in South Carolina is part of BMW Group's
global manufacturing network and is the exclusive manufacturing plant for all
Z4 Roadster and X5 Sports Activity Vehicles. The BMW Group sales organization
is represented in the U.S. through networks of 340 BMW car, 327 BMW Sports
Activity Vehicle, 148 BMW Motorcycle retailers, and 70 MINI dealers. BMW (US)
Holding Corp., the BMW Group's sales headquarters for North, Central and South
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 http://www.bmwusa.com http://www.bmwmotorcycles.com and
http://www.miniusa.com

Journalist note: 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.

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