BMW Telematics Offensive: Networking of individual mobility through partnership with Vodafone Passo

Munich, Germany, February 13, 2001...The BMW Group has renewed its strategic
partnership with Vodafone Passo in the field of telematics services. With its
updated BMW ASSIST, BMW offers customers a unique service, which as a special
technological innovation, allows the desired navigation data to be transmitted
right into a moving car from external sources. The contract with Vodafone,
formerly Mannesmann, on the development of BMW ASSIST was signed as early as
July 1999. The BMW Group and Vodafone Passo have now adapted the contract to
the current service requirements and strategic orientation of BMW, which with
the new BMW 7 Series, is aimed at being the world's first manufacturer to offer
an Internet portal in an automobile.

Partnership of Technology Leaders

The renewed partnership of two global players in the automotive industry and
New Economy offers the customer major advantages in the automotive service
sector. The technological know-how and global network makes Vodafone Passo the
ideal partner to keep the BMW Group in the top position in the area of
navigation, information and online services and to upgrade these services over
the long term. Today, Vodafone with its mobile telephony networks in 26
countries is the largest cellular operator worldwide and serves 78.7 million
customers around the globe. Vodafone's global network allows BMW, with the
assistance of the navigation system and car phone, to provide customers in many
countries with its mobile multi-band services.

Just as the cooperation with Vodafone Passo today forms the basis for the
mobile telematics service BMW ASSIST, Vodafone is the BMW Groups strategic
partner as a portal operator when it comes to the replacement of the current
BMW 7 Series as the first Internet-capable production car: "As we started in
the 1990s to network individual computers, so it is now a logical step to
network automobiles to form a comprehensive mobile information network" says
Dr. Burkhard Göschel, member of the Board of Management of the BMW Group,
responsible for development and purchasing.

From BMW ASSIST to the Mobile Internet Portal

In collaboration with Vodafone Passo, the BMW Group has updated the BMW ASSIST
telematics service and at the same time upgraded the product range. Automatic
emergency calls in serious accidents, roadside assistance, real-time traffic
information as well as mobility-related information services with more than
260,000 points of interest are now bundled in a clear and defined manner. In
Germany BMW with its BMW ASSIST even today offers its customers data
back-loading, a process where desired navigation data, such as from fuel
stations, hotels or venues, can be transmitted from an external BMW data center
into the navigation system of a moving car. With BMW ASSIST, BMW is also
offered a chance for entirely new and regular customer contacts, which opens up
new avenues in customer relations management.

With BMW ASSIST, the networking of individual mobility has already gotten under
way, but opens up completely new dimensions with the world's first
Internet-capable production car, the new BMW 7 Series. Karl-Heinz Kalbfell,
Senior Vice President Group Marketing, is convinced that telematics and online
services will in future take on the role of a virtual assistant that will
relieve driving effort in any situation and will increasingly allow the driver
to focus on what it is all about - the pleasure of motoring.

Be it the BMW ASSIST telematics service or the automotive Internet portal - the
keyword "Connected Drive" - combines all BMW innovations into a comprehensive
driver assist concept. "Connected Drive" in this context stands for intelligent
communication in the driver, vehicle and environment triangle. The systems
based on this principle provide the driver with information in situations where
he is unable to perceive such information or not reliably enough. Thus, the
electronic assistants relieve driving effort and thereby contribute to safer,
more efficient and more comfortable driving.

Contact:

Jochen Mueller, AK-21
Phone: +49-89-382 68778