BMW Group headquarters
The automobile company has lost its lead in electromobility in recent years and at the same time a revenue problem.
(Photo: DAPD)
Profit warning, power struggles and an increasingly unsettled workforce: The news from the BMWHeadquarters have not been good in recent months. The pressure on CEO Harald Kruger was great. Now the 53-year-old has declared his in the coming year expiring contract not to extend,
The finish deserves respect: unlike Daimler and VW remained BMW In the exhaust gas crisis largely irreproachable. Krüger has recognized the changes that are due to electromobility and digitization and at least initiated a cultural change.
But he did not act decisively enough. When Tesla In order to attack BMW customers, Krüger cut off its investments in electric cars. As the economy cooled in 2018, he sat the red pencil too late,
Now BMW has lost the lead in electromobility and at the same time a revenue problem. And also the conversion from the automaker to the mobility and technology company is still piecemeal.
The displeasure over these omissions dragged on in recent months by the workforce and the supervisory board. And even before Kruger announced his retreat, his possible successors got into position. Two candidates are ready: Head of Development Klaus Fröhlich and Production Director Oliver Zipse.
Zipse is considered the moderate candidate, Fröhlich stands for a more robust gait. One thing is clear: with their vote for one of the two candidates, the BMW inspectors will make a decision on the future of the company on 18 July.
Because beyond the day-to-day business, important decisions have to be made. BMW has to tie up its investments for the period after 2025, when the combustion engine disappears from the cities and digitalisation has completely permeated mobility. With a world market share of three percent one is not in the position to determine the rules of the game in the big questions of the future.
The Munich-based carmaker now has to decide which drives to use and which partners to work with. Do the Bayerische Motorenwerke want to continue to buy their battery cells in China or to build the heart of the electric car themselves?
Join BMW together Daimler a convincing mobility offer, or do you end up losing your customers to Uber and the Chinese? Will Munich succeed in remaining independent in this world, or do they end up under a larger roof?
The successor of Harald Krüger faces difficult decisions.