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May 10, 2006

This Week:

• The new Audi A6 allroad Quattro - At home on all roads and tracks

• The New Porsche 911 Turbo

• Jaguar Leads In Traffic Safety

• Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class: Pioneering engines and safety technology for model year 2007

• Hybrid Vehicle Registrations More Than Double in 2005

• BMW Group Worldwide Sales - April 2006

• New Ford Edge Crossover To Arrive Loaded With Standard Safety Equipment

• Toyota Motor Sales USA Announces Organizational Changes

• General Motors Europe and Renault pursue cooperation on LCVs

• Mercedes Car Group: Worldwide sales increase by seven percent through April 2006

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In the period ending April 2006, 382,855 BMW brand automobiles were sold (previous year: 332,429). This is an increase of 15.2%. The strongest growth rate was recorded by the 3 Series Sedan; with 114,018 vehicles sold, 74.7% more vehicles were delivered than in the same period last year (65,254). This means that in the first four months of 2006, almost one in three BMW automobiles sold was a 3 Series Sedan. In total, the BMW 3 Series reached 164,972 vehicles sold in the period up to the end of April, which is a 47.7% increase compared with the previous year (111,691 vehicles). The second-highest rate of growth in the period under review - 44.4% - was recorded by the top BMW brand model, the 7 Series. In the period ending April, 16,167 were sold (previous year: 11,196). The third BMW core model series, the 5 Series, is still generating a superb customer response. For the period ending April, sales reached 75,923 vehicles, which is 1.2% above the high level of the previous year (75,022).

In April, sales of the BMW brand grew by 7.0% to 99,549 automobiles (previous year: 93,017). The highest growth rate, with an increase of 44.8% to 29,274 (previous year: 20,216) vehicles delivered, was once again posted by the BMW 3 Series Sedan. It was launched in March 2005 and was thus fully available for the first time in April 2005. In March 2006, due to the comparatively low sales figures for the previous year, the increase in sales over March 2005 was actually 86%.

As already communicated, the continuing high demand for the MINI makes the expansion of production capacities in the UK MINI plant in Oxford essential. In the medium term, annual capacity there is being expanded to around 240,000 units. Because of the building measures required for this, there have been production bottlenecks since the beginning of the year and thus limited the availability of MINI. In the period to the end of April, MINI deliveries therefore fell according to plan to 64,806 vehicles (previous year: 70,950/-8.7%). In April, 15,285 MINIs were handed over to customers (previous year: 18,252/-16.3%).

In the period to the end of April this year, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars delivered 158 Phantoms (previous year: 182/-13.2%). In April, the figure was 51 automobiles (previous year: 56/-8.9%).

Dr. Michael Ganal, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for sales and marketing, said, "In the first four months of the current year, we have further expanded our position as the world's leading manufacturer of premium automobiles. This means that we have once again come a step closer to our goal of continuing to stay ahead of all relevant competitors for the year 2006 as a whole."

In the motorcycles segment, deliveries to customers in the first fourth months - mainly due to the very harsh weather last winter in Europe - at 31,237 units were still below the corresponding figure for the previous year (34,628/-9.8%). In April, 12,200 BMW motorcycles were sold (previous year: 13,328/-8.5%). For the year as a whole, the company is assuming that it will outstrip last year's sales in the motorcycles segment, too (97,474).

** Download press release to view sales chart **

(May 08, 2006)