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2001 BMW Group's Most Successful Year - 01/28/2002
2001 the BMW Group's Most Successful Year - Further Growth expected in 2002
MUNICH, GERMANY, January 28, 2002 (BMW of North America Inc.) - The year 2001 was by far the most successful business year ever in the history of the BMW Group, the Company achieving record figures in sales, production, deliveries, and capital expenditure. As the BMW Group states today in its Letter to Shareholders, overall sales are up to Euro 37,853 million, 7.1 per cent above the previous year's figure. Sales in the Automobiles Segment are up by 13.1 percent to Euro 33,521 million. The Motorcycles Segment was able to boost sales for the first time to more than Euro 1.0 billion last year (Euro 1,059 million, up by 14.1 percent). The increase recorded by Financial Services, in turn, was 5.8 percent above the sales figure in fiscal 2000, up to Euro 7,459 million.
The BMW Group maintains its positive outlook for the current year: "We are confident that the Company will continue its process of ongoing growth in 2002", states Prof. Dr.-Ing. Joachim Milberg, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG. "The premium segments of the international car markets will continue to develop at an above-average pace."
With a total production volume of 946,730 automobiles - including 42,395 MINIs - the BMW Group once again reached a new record figure in 2001. In all, 904,335 BMW automobiles came off the production lines at the Munich, Dingolfing, Regensburg, Spartanburg, and Rosslyn Plants and at the Group's worldwide assembly plants, 8.4 per cent more than in the previous year. This boosts production to a new record level made possible by the ongoing increase in efficiency as well as the commitment and performance of the workforce.
The BMW Group took significant steps to increase capacities in 2001, production capacities for the BMW X5 at the Spartanburg Plant in the USA growing by more than 80 per cent. In Great Britain, production at the new Hams Hall Engine Plant started in January 2001 and capacities were built up at the new Oxford Plant for the MINI.
The Company also continued to make investments at the existing plants in Munich, Dingolfing, Regensburg, Berlin and in Rosslyn, South Africa. Currently "the new home of Rolls-Royce" is being built in Goodwood, Great Britain, according to plan.
Overall capital expenditure in 2001 amounted to Euro 2,828 million (+32.3 per cent). Further investments in the context of the BMW Group's product and market offensive will provide the foundation for an ongoing increase in deliveries. The new plant in the Leipzig/Halle Region, involving an investment of Euro 1.3 billion, is of particular significance in this context.
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