Nashville, Tenn. (April 15, 2005) - Bridgestone Corporation, parent company of Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc. and Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, LLC (BFNT), will be supplying both all-season Bridgestone® brand Turanza™ EL42™ Run-Flat Tires and summer Bridgestone brand Potenza™ RE050A™ Run-Flat Tires as original equipment for the 2006 BMW 3 Series performance sedan.

In equipping the BMW 3 Series, the European automaker’s best-selling sedan worldwide, Bridgestone Corporation has secured the following size and placement fitments on the U.S. market vehicles:

"We’re thrilled that the Bridgestone Group has been selected by BMW to supply an extensive array of Bridgestone-brand Run-Flat Tires for the all new 3 Series, which will be traveling the roads throughout the United States,” said Michael Martini, president, original equipment consumer tire division, BFNT. "This wonderful opportunity expands our original equipment offerings of self-supporting Run-Flat Tires while also allowing us to showcase our premium Bridgestone technology on BMW’s most popular vehicle."

In addition to the tires’ proprietary Run-Flat technology, Bridgestone Corporation and BMW engineers worked together closely on developing and optimizing performance of both the Bridgestone Potenza and Bridgestone Turanza tires to meet the demanding requirements of the new BMW 3 Series.

Bridgestone-brand Run-Flat tires are based on a Self Supporting Run-Flat Tire (SSR) system. The SSR system employs a special, rubber sidewall reinforcement that carries the weight of the vehicle and maintains the tire’s shape following deflation. Consumers may feel so little difference when the tire loses air that a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) must be used with Run-Flat Tires to notify the driver of an air loss. Run-Flat Tires offer drivers the opportunity to get to a safe location to change a tire when necessary, offering mobility for up to 50 miles at 50 mph.