BMW GROUP WINS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING DESIGN QUALITY

[Jason]

07/14/2005

First prizes in the "Industrial Designer" and "Manufacturer" categories of Ranking : Design.

Munich. Once again, the BMW Group placed at the top of this year's "Ranking : Design", an established best-of list in the design industry which selects the 100 most outstanding industrial designers and manufacturers each year. The company won awards for top design quality in both categories.

With two first places in the categories "Industrial Designer" and "Manufacturer", the BMW Group took the lead for the fourth time in a row in the product group "Transport and Special Vehicles".

DesignworksUSA, a subsidiary of the BMW Group with studios in Los Angeles and Munich, also achieved one of the sought-after places among the top industrial designers, ranking sixth.

Since the first "Ranking : Design" in 1996, the BMW Group has consistently ranked among the first three places in the product group "Transport and Special Vehicles". Since 2001 it has even managed to continuously hold first place among the industrial designers and manufacturers in this group.

Moreover, the unbroken string of first place rankings catapulted the Munich automobile manufacturer into the first place of the so-called "Hall of Fame", which sums up the Ranking : Design awards of the previous years - far ahead of other competitors in the branch.

Established Award for the Best Industrial Designers and Manufacturers.

For the past eight years, Ranking : Design has rated Germany's most important design competitions. The current results for 2004/2005 are based on the systematic evaluation of 17 national and regional design competitions, including internationally-recognized competitions such as the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Red Dot Award and the iF Design Award.

Ranking : Design provides an overview of the evaluations of professional designers and design-oriented manufacturers. The ranking in Ranking : Design rewards successful design achievements over the past year, rather than reflecting individual products.

The BMW Group's top rankings in this year's evaluation offer new confirmation of the Munich company's persuasive design strategy and the visually compelling character of its brands. In international comparison, both the work and the goals of the BMW Group design team live up to the very highest standards.