BMW 2003 Annual Report Download - page 135

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result of the unwavering pursuit of our premium brand strat-
egy, which will propel our Company into a new dimension.
With now three vehicle brands and nine model ranges, we
have expanded our product range significantly.
At the very beginning of the year, we introduced the new
Rolls-Royce Phantom, thus enhancing our range of motor
cars to include the very top end of the luxury segment.
With the Rolls-Royce brand, the BMW Group now has a third
strong brand in its portfolio and focuses, like no other car
manufacturer, exclusively on the premium segments of the
international automobile markets.
The worldwide success of the MINI brand surpassed
even our own expectations. In the spring of 2003, we intro-
duced a diesel version, the MINI One D, thus broadening
the MINI product range.
The strength of our product offensive in 2003 was most
obvious, however, in the BMW brand, which featured two
new model ranges, one model change, four updated models
and numerous new engine versions. In the first half of the
year, we made new engine versions available in the BMW 7
Series and revised the BMW 3 Series Coupé, Cabrio and
Compact models. In the second half of the year, the new
BMW 5 Series Saloon stimulated demand as expected,
leading to significantly increased unit sales for the whole of
2003, despite the model change. The revised BMW X5
followed in the autumn. Then, at the end of the year, we
introduced two completely new cars, the BMW X3 and the
BMW 6 Series Coupé, which will win over new groups of
customers for the BMW brand.