Statement by BMW's Stefan Krause at the Tokyo Motor Show 2007

10/24/2007 -- Statement by Stefan Krause, member of the board of management of BMW AG, BMW Group press conference - Tokyo Motor Show 2007:

Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to our BMW stand!

The focus of the BMW Group is never short-term, but always long-term. We plan to remain successful as we go forward and thus safeguard our independence. This is the reason why we realigned our organization and set long-term growth targets through 2020.

We will definitely fine-tune the BMW Group to create value over the long term and to become even more profitable in the future. Our goal is to be the leading provider of premium products and premium services for individual mobility. Our product and market initiative is designed to achieve this target.

These efforts are exemplified by the new BMW 6 Series. The new 6 Series Convertible is celebrating its Japanese premiere right here at our stand. We remodeled the 6 Series Coupe and Convertible and equipped them with advanced engines and technical features.

Technological innovations have always been one of our core strengths. And our customers appreciate our efforts in this area. Our vehicles not only spark enthusiasm, but they also offer our customers sheer joy and excitement.

As you all know, BMW is known to constantly refine individual mobility in the premium segment. This is exactly what the BMW Concept CS symbolizes.

This vehicle is only a concept study, but we have already decided that we will definitely build a four-door Gran Turismo, modeled on this concept.

At BMW, we not only continue to work on alternative engine concepts, but also to create innovative vehicle concepts.

Protecting our environment and reducing CO2 emissions are issues prevailing the world over - and naturally in Japan as well. After all, this is where the Kyoto Protocol was signed ten years ago.

What's behind BMW EfficientDynamics?

This is the term we coined to define whatever we do to improve the performance of our vehicles, while reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions at the same time. This includes enhancing the efficiency of our combustion engines and other components, intelligent energy flow management and further vehicle weight reductions.

We are already introducing a variety of EfficientDynamics features throughout our entire fleet. This is the only way to really protect our environment. And this definitely sets us apart from many competitors.

In the long run, hydrogen-powered engines will also be a part of our EfficientDynamics program. With BMW CleanEnergy, we believe that hydrogen will be the renewable energy source of the future.

Our vision of future mobility is driving without emissions.

The BMW Hydrogen 7 already proves that this is possible. You are witnessing this incredible vehicle for the first time at a motor show in Japan. In the last few weeks, the Hydrogen 7 was on tour here in Japan and some of you were able to experience first hand this hydrogen-powered BMW 7 Series. Like all BMWs, this car offers you sheer driving pleasure.

Another milestone towards achieving lower-emissions mobility is hybrid technology. In our view, this is an interesting way of improving efficiency for performance-oriented vehicles.

This is BMW's first full hybrid. It is the BMW among hybrid vehicles.
We are presenting this vehicle in Asia for the first time today.

This hybrid vehicle is just a preview of how BMW mobility could look like in years and decades to come - even less fuel consumption, even less emissions, and with a lot more driving pleasure.

What makes the BMW Hybrid special?

• First, we are combining a highly efficient and powerful combustion engine with two high-output electric engines. The electric engines are integrated in an active drive. And this increases efficiency both in stop-and-go traffic as well as on the highway.
• Second, the BMW Hybrid delivers far more driving dynamics than any other hybrids.
• Third, the BMW Hybrid reduces consumption by up to 20 percent compared to a similar non-hybrid vehicle.

This concept car only marks the beginning of BMW's hybrid story. Our technology is modular. Theoretically, we can equip all vehicle variants with optimal components. This opens the door to a multitude of possibilities.

We are totally convinced that reducing fuel consumption does not prevent us from offering sportiness in vehicles. The BMW brand is an icon for sporty premium cars. This holds true for every single model and every single engine variant.

The pinnacle of our sportiness is our M vehicles. I am proud to present a world premiere - the new M3 Sedan.

This is the fourth generation of M 3 Series sedans, which we have been launching for years. It is a model in its own right - both in terms of design and technology. What applies to all our M vehicles is "Engineered for the Racetrack, Built for the Road". The experience we have gained in the field of motor sports, our passion for ultimate technological performance - all of this is united in our M vehicles.

In our opinion, the new M3 Sedan is the perfect combination between a pure-bred sports car and a classic sedan. I can assure you: Driving pleasure doesn't get any better than this!

Of course, the same applies to the new M3 Coupe, which is celebrating its Japanese premiere here as well. In addition, we brought along another sporty BMW model which will provide a lot of fun, especially for young drivers.

The BMW Concept 1 Series tii is yet another world premiere.

It is a design and concept study based on the new BMW 1 Series Coupe. You can see immediately that this study has uncompromising motor sports heritage. It continues our legacy of small, sporty coupes. This car shows BMW's classical brand values in a very fresh, passionate fashion. It is quite possible that some of the ideas and elements from this concept study may find their way into future models.

In our opinion, there is no need to renounce premium and sheer driving pleasure in the compact segment. We have proven this with the BMW 1 Series. It is now wonder. Then, that the BMW 1 Series Coupeis the only European car in the 5th edition of the computer car racing game "Gran Turismo."

The BMW Group is continuing its successful product and market initiative. And we have a whole host of ideas for the future, as you can see from our concept cars. Our goal was to sell a total of 150,000 vehicles in Asia in the year of 2008. We are confident to hit this target already this year.

We had a strong year-on-year increase in retail in the first nine months of this year, primarily in growth markets.

• In the Chinese markets, namely Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, we recorded a 32 percent increase. To enable further growth, we will expand our production capacity in Shenyang from 30,000 units to 44,000 units.

• We recorded over 21 percent growth in new car registrations in Korea and command the leading position in the premium segment.

• By September 2007, we had sold four times as many vehicles in India as in September 2006. For the full year, we expect to sell more than our target of 1,000 vehicles. Of course, these figures are still low in absolute terms. However, demand will continue to rise. Thanks to our new BMW plant in Chennai, we are well equipped for the future.

• Japan continues to be our largest Asian market. From January to September of 2007, we sold over 44,000 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce cars in this country. We are confident that the Japanese car market will grow in the future. Therefore, we launched various initiatives to improve customer satisfaction even further. In addition, we will expand our retail network to 196 BMW sales outlets and 100 MINI outlets in the next few years.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The BMW Group is well positioned for the future. We are reengineering the future and reaching for new frontiers.

Thank you!

Source: BMW

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