The car manufacturer’s supervisory board BMW has decided to replace sales director Pieter Nota (59). The successor will be BMWChina-Boss Jochen Goller (57). In addition, the contract of CEO Oliver Zipse (59) was extended until 2026, as expected.
Nota’s departure comes as a surprise because the manager is actually currently implementing a central project for the group: all dealers are to be converted into sales agencies by 2026. Instead of selling cars on their own account, in the future they will only be customer advisors who receive a fixed fee from the company for each car sold. Advantage from BMW’s perspective: complete price sovereignty and more margin for the group.
The sales model is currently being tested at Mini in China, and from next year it will apply to the brand worldwide. Only then will it be BMW’s turn. The intervention in the business models causes unrest among some of the independent dealers, especially since many missing details make calculations more difficult for them. At the same time, it is seen as the key to success, especially as competitors like Tesla are increasing prices ever more quickly.
Criticism of Nota
However, there was indirect criticism of Nota four years ago. After taking office, BMW boss Zipse explicitly had more agile sales – shortly before Nota’s contract came up for extension. Recently he also had to meekly correct his surcharge policy in one central point. When they tried to charge subscription fees for hardware already installed in the car, customers were not happy: the equivalent of using the seat heating in the USA should cost the equivalent of around 15 euros per month – which hardly anyone wanted to pay and at the same time caused outrage.
Supervisory board chairman Norbert Reithofer (67) said: “With Jochen Goller, we are appointing an internationally experienced sales manager to the board who, as a proven China expert, knows the BMW Group’s largest market like no other.” The 57-year-old has been with BMW since 1999, was marketing director in China from 2004 to 2009, then head of the Mini brand and returned to China in 2015 – first as BMW’s head of sales in the world’s largest car market, then as the group’s China boss.
The 59-year-old Pieter Nota, whose contract actually runs until 2024, is due to vacate his position for Goller on November 1st. But he received great praise when he left. Reithofer said that under his leadership, BMW is on track to “reach or even exceed pre-Corona levels” in sales this year. He digitized sales and reorganized it with the agency model. The Dutchman started his career at Unilever and was on the board of directors Beiersdorf and Philips and joined BMW in 2018.
BMW boss Zipse receives an early contract extension. Manager magazin had already reported a few months ago that anything else would be a surprise
. Zipse has been at the helm of the DAX group since August 2019, has significantly expanded business in China and made a record profit last year. In the next three years, he is expected to bring BMW’s “New Class” onto the market, which is tailored entirely to electric drives, increase the share of electric cars in sales to a third and promote digitalization.
Reithofer said: “In a phase of global crises and profound transformation, the BMW Group not only achieved reliably robust results under his leadership, but also sustainably strengthened its leading position in global competition.” Works council boss Martin Kimmich said: “The good cooperation between the board and the works council will be continued with the reappointment of Oliver Zipse.” We will “continue to make constructive decisions together.”