[TusharK]

BMW CEO Harald Krueger has decided to quit two weeks before his contract was to come up for renewal. His contract expires at the end of April 2020 and he will not seek an extension.



The board of directors are said to meet on July 18, 2019 to decide a successor. Until a decision is taken, Krueger will continue to head the company.

According to media reports, Krueger had taken over from Norbert Reithofer at a time when BMW was outselling Mercedes-Benz and Audi. The carmaker is also said to be among the first to bring electric vehicles (EVs) to the market. Reports suggest that Krueger failed to capitalize on the first mover advantage BMW had in the EV space.

During his 4-year term, BMW lost its market lead in the luxury segment to Mercedes-Benz. In Q1 2019, the company was hit by a US$ 1.6 billion anti-trust case. Higher upfront costs for new technology reportedly resulted in further losses. The group as a whole was in profit due to the financial services and motorcycle divisions.

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[srishiva]

All the best to him.
Hopefully, he will now drive a Mercedes car right from his BMW HQ

[SID2997]

Sometimes,its not the CEO who is at fault.In my view,CEOs in the auto industry have their hands tied down to some extent due to anarchic and obsolete policies/methods still being followed by the Board of Directors.It was time for him to break-up and move on.Building a career is like being in a relationship; one must know when to move on.The mind needs to take precedence over the heart.

[nishsingh]

Hopefully we will see better designs from BMW now.
If he was the final sign-off guy in terms of the design decisions (pretty sure he was), then he couldnt have done much worse.
Hoping his efforts in producing better technology for BMW pays off over the next few years though.

[VaidhiR]

Originally Posted by SID2997

Sometimes,its not the CEO who is at fault.In my view,CEOs in the auto industry have their hands tied down to some extent due to anarchic and obsolete policies/methods still being followed by the Board of Directors.It was time for him to break-up and move on.Building a career is like being in a relationship; one must know when to move on.The mind needs to take precedence over the heart.

Whilst I agree with the principle of your post, we must not forget the dynamics of the market and the trends it tends to show us. This is where BMW lagged behind in the market. A dynamic CEO will adapt to such changes, however small or otherwise they are, and show the employees that he has a vision to take the company onto the next step of offense.

A lot of OEMs are exploring complex tasks like platform sharing, component sharing and reducing differing components used across the portfolio. Maybe even throw in electrification of portfolio and autonomous driving. Krüger wasnt exactly dynamic in his approach to some of them. One point that I can think of at the top of my head, is electrification. When he took over in 2015, BMW were somewhere in the lead when it came to the entire electrification agenda. But somewhere between then and now, the company seems to have lost its lead. Mercedes, Ford and even Ferrari have pursued this more aggressively.

So yeah. Nothing against anyone, but sometimes things dont work out because the CEO wasnt dynamic enough and/or his vision wasnt shared by the company and/or by the industry. He came on board when BMW needed a rudder. He did his best. And now his likely successor, Oliver Zipse, has more on his plate to continue the electric offence.

All the best Krüger.

[GTO]

He hasn't quit - the board pushed him out. Basically, instead of firing him, the board allowed Harald to submit his resignation.

Can't say I'm surprised. BMW is lagging behind others when it comes to EVs, their latest designs SUCK (Mercedes meanwhile has taken styling to another level), they've lost market-share in key markets to others and group profit margins have come down.

If you look at all the new BMWs, they are merely a "little more of the same thing". Compare that to Mercedes which has transformed the luxury & design components.

BMW especially needs to take care of its competitive strengths as it's independent & smaller (compared to Mercedes, Audi-VW, Lexus-Toyota etc.).

[2000rpm]

Originally Posted by GTO

He hasn't quit - the board pushed him out. Basically, instead of firing him, the board allowed Harald to submit his resignation.

If you look at all the new BMWs, they are merely a "little more of the same thing". Compare that to Mercedes which has transformed the luxury & design components.

BMW especially needs to take care of its competitive strengths as it's independent & smaller (compared to Mercedes, Audi-VW, Lexus-Toyota etc.).

I am curious to see what Ad would Mercedes use to respond, given the BMW response when their CEO retired. Highly anticipated.

[VaidhiR]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

I am curious to see what Ad would Mercedes use to respond, given the BMW response when their CEO retired. Highly anticipated.

Zetsche joined Daimler-Benz in 1976. He was the CEO from 2006 until 2019. 43 years in the company. 13 of them as CEO.

Krüger joined BMW in 1992. He was the CEO from 2015 until 2019. 27 years in the company. 4 of them as CEO.

I doubt Daimler will be bothering their marketing department.

[Iyencar]

Originally Posted by GTO

Can't say I'm surprised. BMW is lagging behind others when it comes to EVs, their latest designs SUCK (Mercedes meanwhile has taken styling to another level)

Not just design, the cars themselves are outdated at launch. Here's an interesting write up. Krueger seems to have been a man without a plan, or atleast a terrible one.


The first electric Mini helps explain why BMW’s CEO just quit

• BMW wants about $35,000 for a car with 235 kms of range, built on old i3 tech
• BMW, it seems, fell behind the curve on Krueger’s watch
• He delayed BMW’s first long-range EV, which reportedly led to an exodus of talent in that field. Sales of the i3 stumbled. He also doubled down on internal combustion engine cars at a time when European countries moved to restrict or outright ban them, especially diesels
• BMW’s vision of the future became so disjointed under Krueger that, just two weeks ago, one of its lead executives said electric vehicles were “overhyped” at an event where BMW announced a new plan to accelerate its adoption of electric vehicle technology
• Mini’s spec sheet reads like something that was announced three or four years ago. will only do a 0 to 100 km/h (0 to 62 mph) run in 7.3 seconds. That’s slower than the two-year-old Chevy Bolt

Folks who are passionate about seeing greener tech should thank their gods each day that Elon Musk happened to the auto industry. The man has single handedly made it cool and practical to own an EV. Left to themselves, these automotive dinosaurs would never have got EVs to where they are today.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by SID2997

Sometimes,its not the CEO who is at fault.In my view,CEOs in the auto industry have their hands tied down to some extent due to anarchic and obsolete policies/methods still being followed by the Board of Directors.

According to BMW compensation numbers for 2016, he was making 7.6 million euros/year. The average autoworker pay in Germany is around 61,000 euros/year.

I don't have the median wage figures for BMW in Germany. So let's use the average auto-worker wage in Germany. The average figure is always higher than median figure, but let's work with what we have.

That makes the CEO:worker pay ratio about 124. If he is paid 124 times the average worker, then the CEO is expected to perform miracles. Since he hasn't, he deserves all the blame.

[TusharK]

Oliver Zipse to replace Harald Krueger as BMW Group CEO

Oliver Zipse will take charge as the Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG from August 16, 2019. He replaces Harald Krueger, who will resign as the Chairman on August 15, 2019.



Zipse has been a member of the Board of Management of BMW AG since 2015 and is responsible for the production division. He began his career with the company in 1991 as a trainee. He has held various position including Managing Director Plant Oxford and Senior Vice President Corporate Planning and Product Strategy in the past.

Earlier this month, we reported that Harald Krueger had decided to quit. His contract was due to expire in April 2020. Following Krueger's decision, the board of directors met on July 18, 2019 to appoint his successor.

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