Speech by Dr. Norbert Reithofer - BMW Group Press Conference Auto Shanghai 2007

Ladies and Gentlemen - Welcome to our press conference here at the Auto
Shanghai 2007! We would like to talk to you about the following topics
today: • The status of the BMW Group in general, • the role
of the Chinese market for our company, • the importance of
"BMW EfficientDynamics" for the BMW Group • and of course
the new products we are presenting here at Shanghai. Let me start with
our current retail figures. We already announced our targets for 2007
at the beginning of the year: We plan to deliver more than 1.4 million
vehicles for all our brands this year: BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce. Some
of you might remember that this was our goal for 2008. We are able now
to reach this goal one year ahead of schedule! And we are still right
on track: In the first quarter of the year, we delivered more than
333,000 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce vehicles to our customers. This means
that retail volume was slightly higher in the first quarter of 2007 than
2006. This development completely meets our expectations. This year's
retail curve will develop differently from last year's. Retail will
develop more moderately over the first few months. This is due to our
model cycles and, most of all, to our launch schedule. For the second
quarter, we already expect much more dynamic growth rates - as the new
models will stimulate business. The Chinese market also plays an
important role for us. This market is clearly headed towards becoming
one of the world's most important automotive markets. We continue to
believe in this country's huge potential. It is our goal to increase
retail volume in Asia to 150,000 vehicles by next year. And our
successful operations in China will have a major share in reaching this
target: • In March, we sold a total of over 3,600 vehicles of the
BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands in Chinese Mainland. This is a rise of
31 per cent compared to March 2006. • In the first quarter 2007,
our retail volume in Chinese Mainland amounted to more than 10,100
vehicles - 34.2 per cent more than the first quarter of last year.
With these first-quarter results, we are continuing our ongoing success
in this market. Over the last five years, the BMW brand alone has risen
by more than 750 percent in Chinese Mainland. No other major premium
brand has achieved such dynamic growth rates in this market. The BMW
brand's market share of the premium segments in Chinese Mainland
currently stands at about 20 percent. In 2006, many important models
were segment leaders, such as the BMW 7 Series or our Sports Activity
Vehicles BMW X3 and BMW X5. The long version of our BMW 5 Series,
exclusively developed for this market, has got off to a very good
start. This model exactly meets our customers' demands. And I am sure
that we will manage to remain in a leading position in the premium
segments of this important market over the long term. After all, we
have all the necessary requirements: • desirable products like
those you can see here at our stand, • but also the necessary
local commitment. With our joint-venture BMW Brilliance Automotive
Ltd., we are well established in China. We are successful. And we are
furthermore convinced that this is the right way to remain successful
in this important market. Ladies and Gentlemen - Our motto here at
the stand is "BMW. Sheer driving pleasure". In essence, this
tells you what the BMW brand is all about: We want our vehicles and
motorcycles to give our customers' the ultimate driving pleasure - and
I think you agree with me that this is exactly what we do best at BMW.
There is another issue that is getting more and more attention in the
media - not only in Europe and the USA, but also in China. The topic is
climate change. This is a challenge for the automotive industry and for
each company in our line of business. We need to design increasingly
efficient and more environmentally-friendly vehicles. Our answer to
this challenge is "BMW EfficientDynamics": • We want to
maintain and refine the "dynamics" of BMW vehicles and at the
same time also • raise the "efficiency" of our cars.
Fuel consumption is to be reduced further. Let me give you an example:
Since 1990, we have already lowered fleet consumption of our vehicles
in Germany by almost 30 per cent. This is real progress! And with
"BMW Efficient Dynamics", we have a comprehensive concept:
• To continuously optimize our powertrains. • To develop
intelligent solutions for the vehicle's entire energy management.
• To construct light-weight materials. • To improve the
aerodynamics of our vehicles. • Keyword hybrid: In the medium
term, this will, of course, also be an element of "BMW
EfficientDynamics". We have just entered into a new cooperation
with DaimlerChrysler. Together we are going to develop hybrid
components in Germany. • In the long term, we consider hydrogen
the solution for individual mobility. We have already achieved a lot in
this area. Ladies and Gentlemen - We are proud to present an
exclusive concept car today that has never been showcased before. This
is a first for us in China. So it is a true world premiere! As a
manufacturer of dynamic vehicles we are now presenting the concept study
of a four-door Gran Turismo. With this concept study, we would like to
show that there are still a lot of options for the BMW brand. This
shows the next step of the evolutionary development of our design
language. So please welcome the BMW Concept CS! On behalf of the BMW
Group, I would like to thank you for your attention and would now
invite you to come on stage and have a closer look at our new products.
Thank you very much.