BMW today announced that it was ranked first overall in the inaugural L2 Prestige 100® Facebook IQ, a new index that measures the aptitude of Prestige 100® brands across auto, beauty, fashion, watches & jewelry and spirits & champagnes categories on the world’s fastest growing platform. BMW owns and maintains 54 separate Facebook pages pertaining to its various geographic regions, business segments and products, each of which were evaluated for this study.

“BMW is the ultimate social machine,” says Maureen Mullen, Director of Research and Advisory at L2. “The brand’s global page plays host to 5.5 million fans, and registered the highest engagement rate in the Index. With another 50+ Facebook pages catered to local markets and specific models BMW is driving away from the competition.” … CONTINUED

BMW of North America today announced a national campaign comprised of television, print, online and radio advertising and a strong in-dealership message, all timed for the summer season and designed to raise awareness of the dangers of distracted driving. The campaign, themed “DON’T TXT & DRIVE - When the Engine Starts the Texting Stops,” begins in early June and runs throughout the year.

“Distracted driving is an epidemic in America, and it has deadly consequences for thousands of people on our roads each year,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “Putting a stop to these needless deaths, as well as hundreds of thousands of injuries, will require everyone to take personal responsibility for safe driving. I am grateful to BMW for their efforts to raise public awareness … CONTINUED

The BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported May sales of 26,452 vehicles, an increase of 19.7 percent from the 22,092 vehicles sold in the same month a year ago.

“This month, BMW and MINI sales progress continues in what’s clearly a yo-yo economy as consumer sentiment varies from optimism to pessimism month-to-month,” said Jim O’Donnell, President and CEO, BMW of North America. “We believe it’s having a steady run of new models as we’ve just added the new 6 Series Convertible to the new X3 and 5 Series to further drive BMW sales, and MINI is no different because of the new Countryman as well as higher gas prices increasing small vehicle focus.”

For anyone who is vigilant about the popularity of BMWs they spot on the roads of North America, this should come as no surprise - the 5-series GT has unfortunately been a bit of a sales disappointment. In an interview with Automotive News, BMW of North America CEO Jim O’Donnell says he wishes the company hadn’t stopped selling the 5-series wagon (F11) in the United States last year because the company thought a lot its 5-series station wagon customers would go with the GT.

Instead of luring the 5-series station wagon owners to the GT, it’s the 7-series owners who seem interested in the 5-series GT instead. As an example, in Florida, 10 percent of BMW 7-series owners have replaced their cars with the 5-series GT, … CONTINUED

With four class victories in the competition “International Engine of the Year Award” 2011, the BMW Group repeated last year’s success, whilst at the same time strengthening its position as the most successful manufacturer to take part in the competition. Four, six and eight-cylinder petrol and diesel engines prevailed in their respective displacement classes. The award-winning engines are featured in a number of current models of the BMW and MINI brands. In addition to the V8 power unit of the BMW M3 and the straight six-cylinder petrol engine with BMW TwinPower Turbo technology, the four-cylinder diesel with BMW TwinPower Turbo technology and the new four-cylinder power unit under the bonnet of the MINI Cooper S also received an Engine of the Year award. The commendation of … CONTINUED

BMW said on Monday it will invest around 1 billion euros ($1.44 billion) to expand production capacity in China as it seeks to capture surging sales growth in the world’s biggest auto market.

BMW is almost doubling its initially planned investment and production capacity at the new plant in Tiexi in the Shenyang will rise to around 200,000 euros over the medium term, BMW said on Monday.

Together with capacity improvements at its Da Dong facility, this will result in potential to make 300,000 vehicles in the long term, it added.

BMW will start selling parts and accessories direct to owners for the first time, thanks to a new partnership with eBay, the leading online retailer.

The BMW Group continues to perform well and has generated a new record for first-quarter earnings. Group revenues increased by 28.9% to euro 16,037 million (2010: euro 12,443 million). The first-quarter profit before financial result (EBIT) rose sharply to euro 1,902 million (2010: euro 449 million) while the profit before tax (EBT) climbed to euro 1,812 million (2010: euro 508 million). Group net profit for the quarter improved to euro 1,212 million (2010: euro 324 million). The total number of BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brand cars sold increased by 21.3% to 382,758 units (2010: 315,614 units), the best first-quarter sales volume performance in the Group’s history.

“The BMW Group has made an excellent start to the new financial year. We have generated record earnings and sold more … CONTINUED

The BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported April sales of 25,247 vehicles, an increase of 19.6 percent from the 21,111 vehicles sold in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, BMW Group is up 18.4% on sales of 90,204 in the first four months of 2011 compared to 76,162 in the same period in 2010.