Eco-roadster: Attractive, Fast, Powerful - and Virtually CO2-free

Engine performance: 150 brake horsepower, maximum speed: 210 kph,
acceleration: 0 to 100 kph in 4.8 sec. It all sounds like fun driving,
but is there perhaps a slight feeling of guilt about the environmental
impact? No need for that, not here.

That driving enjoyment can go hand in hand with ecology is
demonstrated in no uncertain manner by the Rinspeed eXasis, which was
developed jointly by the Swiss car design company and Bayer
MaterialScience AG (NYSE:BAY)(LSE:BYR)(GER:BAY). Thanks to its
transparent lightweight plastic construction in Makrolon(R)
polycarbonate, it weighs only 750 kg. The car is propelled by a
750 ccm Weber engine with only two cylinders. Its average consumption
is 6.3 liters of bioethanol E85 (= 4.5 liters of gasoline) per 100 km,
and because ethanol is virtually CO2-neutral in the ecological
balance, its CO2 emissions amount to a mere 20 g (!) per kilometer.
E85 is a renewable biofuel from pure biomass that had previously
stored the CO2 that is released during combustion in the engine. For
comparison, a typical mid-class car emits around 200 g CO2 per km.

"Cars must become even lighter to save CO2, and there's no way of
doing without modern plastics for this. Nor must environmentally
compatible cars be seen as 'an exercise in self-denial'. On the
contrary, they must be fun, otherwise nobody would buy them." Rinspeed
boss Frank M. Rinderknecht and Bayer MaterialScience Board member, Ian
Paterson, are fully agreed on this. With their third concept vehicle,
the completely transparent eXasis, both companies have turned their
common ideas and inspirations into reality, and come up with a yellow
eco-roadster packed full of dynamism.

It seems that losing weight is just as important for a car as it
is for a human being. This is why Bayer MaterialScience has devoted so
many years to designing body elements with innovative plastics. Apart
from Makrolon(R) polycarbonate, the eXasis also contains some
polyurethane parts, which offer both outstanding design freedom - and
not just in cars - and also bring considerable cost savings.

Information for editors:
Extensive information and illustrative material are available on:
www.rinspeed.com and www.presse.bayerbms.de

TV footage is available from Medialink:
Tel.: +44 2075542704
E-mail: mediarelations@europe.medialink.com

Forward-Looking Statements

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current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group management.
Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could
lead to material differences between the actual future results,
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estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in our
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company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these
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developments.