Successful 2003 financial year for the BMW Group


February 05, 2004

Munich. The BMW Group has continued to perform well in 2003 in line with plan. With 1,104,916 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brand cars sold, the Group achieved a new sales volume record and surpassed the previous year’s record figure by 4.5% (2002: 1,057,344 units). As a result of the lower US dollar exchange rate, revenues fell by 2.1% to euro 41,525 million (2002: euro 42,411 million). Excluding the effect of exchange rate changes, revenues grew by more than 4%. The BMW Group was therefore able to strengthen its international position despite the difficult economic conditions facing some of the world’s automobile markets.

Revenues of the Automobiles segment, at euro 38,285 million, increased by 0.3% compared to the previous year (2002: euro 38,179 million). Revenues of the Motorcycles segment fell by 3.8% to euro 1,087 million (2002: euro 1,130 million). The Financial Services segment generated revenues of euro 7,582 million, 9.1% lower than in the previous year (2002: euro 8,342 million).

In the light of the positive performance, the Group is able to confirm its earnings forecast for the year: “Current year earnings will match those of the previous year at a group level”, stated Dr. Helmut Panke, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, in conjunction with the publication of the letter to shareholders for the financial year 2003. “During a phase of significant expenditure for the Group’s product and market offensive, this is clear evidence of the underlying strength of the BMW Group and an incentive to deliver performances at the highest level in the years ahead.”

More than 3,000 new jobs created

At end of 2003, the BMW Group had a worldwide workforce of 104,342 employees, 2.9% more than one year ago. After excluding the effect of disposals and transfers of group companies, the Group created 3,131 new jobs in 2003. The number of apprentices working for the BMW Group also rose again. 4,306 young people are currently learning a profession throughout the Group, 2.5% more than at the previous year-end.

Capital expenditure increases

The BMW Group is laying the foundation for continued future expansion with high levels of capital expenditure. In 2003, the Group invested euro 3,255 million in intangible assets and property, plant and equipment. On top of that came development costs of euro 996 million which are required to be recognised as assets in accordance with IAS. Capital expenditure in 2003 therefore totalled euro 4,251 million. This represents an increase of 5.2% compared to the previous year (2002: euro 4,042 million).

A significant part of this expenditure related to the continued expansion of the production network. Most notably, the new BMW plant in Leipzig will generate a sharp increase in production capacity from the next year onwards.

All brands achieve new record sales volume levels

The BMW Group again achieved new sales volume highs for all brands. As a result of product life-cycles factors, growth picked up sharply in the second half of 2003. This was attributable mainly to the launch of the new BMW 5 Series Limousine, which became available in July 2003. By the year-end, 70,522 units of this model had been sold. In total, 928,151 BMW cars were sold during the past year, 1.6% more than in the previous year (2002: 913,225 units).

The BMW 3 Series, now in its sixth year of production and with 528,358 units sold in 2003, was only 5.9% below the record year 2002 (561,249 units). The total sales volume of the BMW 5 Series, at 185,481 units, was 7.6% ahead of the previous year (172,323 units). The BMW 7

PAGE 1 | PAGE 2 | PAGE 3