[Aditya]

Frank Schloeder (41), currently Director Marketing at BMW India, has been appointed as acting President of BMW Group India. He is scheduled to take up this position from May 1, 2016.



Born in Trier, Germany on November 14, 1974, Schloeder completed International Studies in Business Administration from the University of Munster, Germany and Montpellier Business School, France. He began his career with BMW in France in 1997.

Schloeder replaces Philipp von Sahr (58), current President of BMW India, who will move to BMW Niederlassung in Berlin, Germany.

[Vid6639]

This is great news to hear. Frank is a proper proper petrol head. He was putting in some hot laps himself during the chennai BMW M event.

From the long interaction I had with him, he seems to understand the Indian market pretty well. He was one of the key guys involved in getting all BMW's to come with space saver tyre for India. If you see now all BMW's have space saver tyre in the boot.

Also, getting all the M cars available in India in a short span of time. Till a couple of years back BMW didn't have a single M car on sale in India.

Great to see true petrol heads in leading positions.

[karan561]

Had met Frank a few months back at a private event & he indeed is a petrol head

I also had the opportunity to open heartedly speak out on why BMW is not providing 'Manual' transmission option for Indian market (surprisingly not available on the M3 & M4 also which are CBU's ) of which he was of the mutual agreement of the same and himself a purist & in favour of M/T which was good to hear.

Now lets see how things shape up in the coming months.

[Akshay1234]

I interacted with Frank at a 7 series preview and had a good chat with him. He does understand the Indian market well, and I'm sure we will see a big change in BMW India from now on. This is a great move for the brand.

[Turbanator]

with all the losses and pricing fiasco , this was supposed to happen albeit little late in my opinion.

New guy with Marketing position - I am not sure if he was independently responsible for pricings previously - they seriously need to stop chasing Mercedes. They have not updated their prices after budget because Mercedes is going slow , I think BMW has fairly good products and a fan following which keep on repetitive buying. What they need to do is Stop discounting of their products and instead revise List Prices so that customers can have the advantage of lower on-road prices. Coming to M Cars - they have not priced these correctly and at the listed prices hardly any of these have being sold - Manual - in my opinion, good for discussions - how many will actually buy?

[suhaas307]

Pardon me if I'm mistaken, but I believe BMW does not have a single petrol car in their line-up, barring the M cars and the Minis of course. Let's hope Frank Schloeder's appointment changes that. I'd certainly like to see more interesting cars from the BMW stable, like the 430i / 435i / 440i Grand Coupe - a car that I believe, could take the fight to the Audi S5 Sportback.

[aveemashfaq]

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[Turbanator]

believe BMW does not have a single petrol car in their line-up,

Yes , they don't have any Petrol variants except for the one's you listed and new 7 . I think they had issues with 8 Cylinder Petrol in past due to fuel quality and even 6 cylinders demand premium petrol which can be an issue here.

of course, they can get a 6 cylinder petrol 3 series but then how many will actually buy this when they had so bad numbers for 4 cylinders in past & talking about manuals I will best leave these for blogs

Perhaps they should consider getting M2 at 65-75 Lac price point , there can be many takers after some very good reviews about this new model.

[GTO]

Great to hear of the new appointment, especially after reading the comments above in support of him.

Philipp von Sahr was awfully incompetent. Under his leadership, BMW went from a leadership position to last. In a luxury market that grew, Sahr actually lost sales. His predecessor - Andreas Schaaf - was very aggressive and his team fought tooth & nail for market share. Sahr didn't seem like he was bothered at all.

Frank is just 41, similar to Andreas who was 39 or 40 years old when he took over the reins. Hope to see the same aggression that BMW had 5 years back. Frank won't be around for long though. 'Acting President' means a temporary position, unless he really pulls off some magic which makes his stay longer.

[nakul0888]

Originally Posted by karan561

Had met Frank a few months back at a private event & he indeed is a petrol head

I also had the opportunity to open heartedly speak out on why BMW is not providing 'Manual' transmission option for Indian market (surprisingly not available on the M3 & M4 also which are CBU's ) of which he was of the mutual agreement of the same and himself a purist & in favour of M/T which was good to hear.

Now lets see how things shape up in the coming months.

Whats the big deal in selling a MT M3/M4? They are all full imports, right? All they need to do is take the order and ship a RHD car specced with a stick, isn't it? We have manual e90 m3's here on our roads.

[rishi_kapoor]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Frank Schloeder (41), currently Director Marketing at BMW India, has been appointed as acting President of BMW Group India. He is scheduled to take up this position from May 1, 2016.

Attachment 1499056

Born in Trier, Germany on November 14, 1974, Schloeder completed International Studies in Business Administration from the University of Munster, Germany and Montpellier Business School, France. He began his career with BMW in France in 1997.

Schloeder replaces Philipp von Sahr (58), current President of BMW India, who will move to BMW Niederlassung in Berlin, Germany.

Great news indeed. Frank is good friend and I just congratulated him and had a brief discussion. I know Frank since last 4 years, apart from being a great human being, he is also very passionate about the brand and truly lives by BMW values. He is a forward thinker and I am sure BMW India will see better days under his leadership.

[rishi_kapoor]

Originally Posted by GTO

'Acting President' means a temporary position, unless he really pulls off some magic which makes his stay longer.

Just confirmed, this is a permanent tenure position and not "acting" as mentioned in economic times.

[Lakshman1645]

Originally Posted by nakul0888

Whats the big deal in selling a MT M3/M4? They are all full imports, right? All they need to do is take the order and ship a RHD car specced with a stick, isn't it? We have manual e90 m3's here on our roads.

The M3/M4 are not exempt from Indian homologation regulations. A vehicle with an additional gearbox option will have to go through the entire range of tests which may not make business sense for BMW India. However, new leadership can change those decisions.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by rishi_kapoor

Just confirmed, this is a permanent tenure position and not "acting" as mentioned in economic times.

That's fantastic to hear and I hope it's true. Just FYI: It wasn't Economic Times, but BMW themselves who called him an 'acting president'. Here's their press release:

Mr. Frank Schloeder appointed as acting President of BMW Group India.

Mr. Philipp von Sahr to assume executive position at BMW Group in Berlin.

Gurgaon. Mr. Frank Schloeder (41), currently Director Marketing at BMW India has been appointed as acting President of BMW Group India (effective 1 May 2016).

In his new role, Mr. Philipp von Sahr (58), will head BMW Niederlassung in Berlin, Germany. During the tenure of Mr. Philipp von Sahr as President, BMW Group India successfully stood ground in a fiercely competitive environment and maintained its momentum in the Indian luxury car market.

Born in Trier, Germany on 14 November 1974, Mr. Frank Schloeder completed International Studies in Business Administration from University of Munster, Germany and Montpellier Business School, France. He began his career with BMW in France in 1997.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by Lakshman1645

The M3/M4 are not exempt from Indian homologation regulations. A vehicle with an additional gearbox option will have to go through the entire range of tests which may not make business sense for BMW India. However, new leadership can change those decisions.

As far as I know, they are exempt. Only cars below 40k USD have to be homogolated. How do you think Mercedes has been launching so many different CBUs in the past year or so.