Project Rolls-Royce at Goodwood on target for launch in 2003

(Goodwood, Chichester)
The GBP 60 million project to create the new home for Rolls-Royce motor cars at
Goodwood, near Chichester is on target for the first all new motor car to be
produced and delivered in January 2003. "The timetable is challenging but
achievable for the team," said Karl-Heinz Kalbfell, Senior Vice President BMW
Group Marketing and Director of the Rolls-Royce Project.

Construction work on the uniquely designed manufacturing plant and head office,
which will feature Europe's biggest "green roof" - 35,000 square metres of
living sedum plants, to blend in with the surrounding rural landscape - will be
completed before the end of next year.

Since planning permission was granted last summer, the site has made good
progress with steelwork for the manufacturing areas already erected. In
conjunction with construction work, extensive landscaping has been carried out
on site with mounds, lakes and swales being built.

Local recruitment is also at an advanced stage. More than 1,000 applications
were received until the end of November. The employees being selected to join
the team by the end of this year represent a cross-section of the skills
required in manufacturing, including specialist leather and woodworking, as
well as in Finance, Sales & Marketing, HR and PR areas.

Dealer candidates have been nominated for the UK home market as well as for
various countries on mainland Europe and for other overseas markets.

Following the approval of the final design for the all new Rolls-Royce motor
car, tooling and parts are now being released to enable series production. The
motor cars will be built to individual customer specification, in the tradition
of Rolls-Royce manufacturing.

Ends

Editors' note: BMW acquired the rights to the Rolls-Royce brand for automotive
business in 1998 and will take over full responsibility in 2003, operating from
a new state of the art manufacturing plant and head office in the United
Kingdom. The new enterprise will be a stand alone company within the BMW Group.
It will continue to design and produce in England authentic Rolls-Royce motor
cars with a modern interpretation of all the marque's traditional values.