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November 14, 2002
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This Week:

• Ford MA Concept Unveiled At J Mays Museum Exhibit Opening

• 10th Anniversary for the BMW Group in Spartanburg 

• Toyota Announces Plan To Coordinate The Development Of California Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Vehicle "Community"

• World Premiere For The New Lacetti At The 2002 Seoul Motor Show

• Ford Names Padilla, Thursfield Executive Vice Presidents

• Daimler Hyundai Truck Corporation Achieves Important Milestone

• Aston Martin Jaguar Land Rover Adds A Fourth Regional Office In Chicago

• MINI voted best Import Car 2002-2003 in Japan

• General Motors Powertrain Saginaw Metal Casting Operations Awarded Precision Sand Project

• Valeo's Bending Light system provides superior levels of comfort to Porsche Cayenne drivers

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10th Anniversary for the BMW Group in Spartanburg 

'Production Follows the Market' concept successfully implemented in the US. Increased internationalization in the coming year.

Photo: BMW

Munich, Germany - The BMW Group is stepping on the gas on its way to a new order of magnitude. On the product side the BMW Group is about to launch into the greatest model offensive in the history of the company. In the coming year alone, two new model series, the BMW X3 and the BMW 6 Series, will be launched as well the third new premium brand, Rolls-Royce. Overall the number of model series will increase significantly in the next five years. Dr. Helmut Panke, Chairman of the Board of Management of the BMW AG: "This represents an expansion like never before in our company's past. We are raising the BMW Group to a completely new level with regard to sales, turnover and returns".

The company has set its sights on annual sales of 1.4 million light vehicles worldwide by the year 2008, which represents an increase of 40 percent in the coming six years. This course of growth is born by the biggest model offensive in company history as well as heightened sales activities on the markets - above all in Asia.

Panke said on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the first cut of the spade for the BMW plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, that the "Production Follows the Market" concept has proved that it works in the US. In 1991, the last year before deciding to build the new plant, BMW sold 53,000 vehicles. In 2002 the company is expecting a ten percent growth for the BMW brand alone. In addition there is the successful launch of the MINI brand with expected sales of 24,000 units in the US. Overall the company expects sales of over 250,000 units in 2002 meaning that sales have almost increased fivefold in the past eleven years.

"Without our commitment in South Carolina we would not have achieved these figures", says Panke. In the coming years the goal is to expand the market share in the world's largest automobile market even further. "The positive experiences gained in Spartanburg confirm us in our endeavours to continue expanding in other important regions too, and to intensify our product range expansion efforts." In the coming years the Asian markets will be one focal point of the internationalization strategy. The BMW Group already is the market leader in the premium segment in most of the countries in the Asia - Pacific region today and can boast mainly two-digit growth rates. Panke: "We want to reinforce this position. In the mid-term, meaning the coming five years, we are planning to more than double sales in this region from 60,000 vehicles today to approximately 150,000 units."

(November 14, 2002)