MAKING WAY FOR THE NEW X5 - THE LAST OF THE FIRST GENERATION X5 MANUFACTURED

The last of the first-generation X5 Sports Activity Vehicle was produced
Friday at BMW Manufacturing Co. in Upstate South Carolina, making way
for the production of the next generation X5. The Toledo Blue 3.0is
X5 sports a Truffle Brown leather interior with a Dark Grain Poplar
wood trim. Due to its significance to BMW, the factory will keep the
vehicle and display it in the Zentrum museum as part of the BMW Mobile
Tradition Collection. With the introduction of the X5, BMW opened a new
market segment known as the Sports Activity Vehicle and the X5 as the
first sports activity vehicle combined the powerful acceleration and
exceptional handling of a car with the advanced traction technologies
and all-wheel drive of an SUV. The first X5 sports activity vehicle
rolled off the production line on September 1, 1999. The X5 is built
exclusively at BMW Manufacturing for distribution to more than 120
markets worldwide. Less than two years after its introduction, the
100,000th X5 milestone was reached on August 23, 2001 and on June 9,
2005, and the 500,000th X5 was produced, just five and a half years
after its market introduction. The Spartanburg plant has produced
616,867 of the current generation of X5 Sports Activity Vehicle. In
2000, the X5 was rated "Best Pick" by the Insurance Institute
for Highway Safety, outperforming all other SUVs tested. The X5 not
only rated higher than other SUVs, it earned a higher rating than all
other vehicles previously tested by the Institute. BMW Manufacturing
Co., a subsidiary of the BMW Group based in Munich, Germany, is the
exclusive manufacturer on the Z4 and M Roadster, Z4 and M Coupe and the
X5 Sports Activity Vehicle. Its website address is
www.bmwusfactory.com. In addition to the South Carolina manufacturing
facility, BMW's North American subsidiaries include sales, marketing
and financial services operations in the United States, Canada and
throughout Latin America, and a design firm in California.