BMW GROUP SETS NEW SALES RECORD IN MARCH
06 April 2006 - BMW

Historic all-time high, with over 144,000 sales for the month

13.9% rise in deliveries in the first quarter 2006

Munich. In March 2006, the BMW Group sold more cars than ever before in a month. Compared with the same month last year, sales of BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce automobiles rose by 13.5% to 144,316 units (prev.yr.: 127,118).

In the first three months of 2006, the number of deliveries by the BMW Group rose by 13.9% to a level which is also a new record on a quarterly basis: 332,923 vehicles (prev.yr.: 292,236). The USA and the home market of Germany are almost equal at the top. In the USA, sales for the period to the end of March rose to 72,588 units (prev.yr.: 65,536/+10.8%). In Germany, sales reached 72,557 (prev.yr.: 65,680/+10.5%). The UK comes in third place, with 40,038 vehicles delivered (prev.yr.: 39,660/+1.0%). In a regional comparison, the BMW Group achieved the strongest growth in the Chinese markets, where volume sales rose by 64.1% to 9,926 automobiles (prev.yr.: 6,050). China stands out not only because of this extremely high rate of growth in volume terms but also the high quality of the product mix. In the first quarter 2006, for example, China recorded 1,680 BMW 7 Series vehicles sold, making it the second-largest market for the BMW Group''s top model after the USA (4,864).

In a monthly comparison, the BMW brand increased its sales by 16.8% to 122,509 vehicles (prev.yr.: 104,931).

In the first quarter 2006, BMW brand sales rose by 18.3% to 283,297 vehicles sold. The entire model range contributed to this success, especially the core model series - the BMW 3 Series, the BMW 5 Series and the BMW 7 Series. For the 3 Series, sales for the period to the end of March 2006 grew by 54.2% to 122,691 vehicles (prev.yr.: 79,542). This means that the 3 Series model range is responsible for 43% of total BMW brand sales in the first three months of 2006. It is followed in second place by the 5 Series with 57,837 deliveries (prev.yr.: 54,245/+6.6%). Sales for the 7 Series reached 11,727 units (prev.yr.: 8,025), which is a rise of 46.1%.

MINI sales continue to be determined by the limited supply. Because of the rebuilding measures required to expand annual capacity to around 240,000 units in the medium term, as already communicated, production in the Oxford plant in the UK was interrupted between the middle of December 2005 and the middle of January 2006.

The MINI product mix continues to be of a very high quality: In the three months to the end of March, the basic model, the MINI One, was chosen by 15,147 customers (30%), and 20,155 (41%) went for the MINI Cooper. Almost one in three buyers (14,217/29%) chose the top-of-the-range model, the MINI Cooper S. This means that the average selling price for a MINI has risen further to now over € 21,000.

Because of the delivery bottlenecks caused by the interrupted production in the MINI plant, sales still fell slightly in March 2006 by 1.7% to 21,760 automobiles (prev.yr.: 22,133). For the year to March 2006, 49,519 MINI were delivered to customers (prev.yr.: 52,698/-6.0%).

Rolls-Royce delivered 47 Phantoms to customers in March (prev.yr.: 54/-13.0%). In the first quarter 2006, the figure was 107 cars (prev.yr.: 126/-15.1%).

As a result of the weather, the delivery of many motorcycles in March 2006 had to be postponed. In addition, the successor model to the R 1200 S and the new F 800 S will only be available from May this year. Sales in the motorcycle segment therefore fell in March to 9,725 units (prev.yr.: 11,793/-17.5%). For the quarter ending March 2006, 19,051 BMW motorcycles were sold (prev.yr.: 21,304/-10.6%).

BMW Group sales in/up to & incl. March 2006 at a glance
In Mar. 06 comp.w. prev.yr. Up to & incl. Mar. 06 comp.w. prev.yr.
BMW Group Automobiles 144,316 +13.5% 332,923 +13.9%
BMW 122,509 +16.8% 283,297 +18.3%
MINI 21,760 -1.7% 49,519 -6.0%
Rolls-Royce 47 -13.0% 107 -15.1%
BMW Motorcycles 9,725 -17.5% 19,051 -10.6%

www.bmwgroup.com

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