It is once again a “pure BMW product” that the supervisory board of the Bavarian manufacturer has chosen to take the lead of the group, while the challenges accumulate with the slowdown in the global market and expensive investments related to the car from the future. Oliver Zipse will succeed Harald Krüger on August 16th.
Like the latter, he spent his entire career in the German company, where he entered as a trainee in 1991. The 55-year-old German engineer, who headed the Mini factory in Oxford, England, is , since 2015, responsible for the production of BMW. A key position in the executive board that also occupied three former bosses of the manufacturer, including Harald Krüger.
polyglot
Stefan Bratzel, founder of the Center of Automotive Management, describes Oliver Zipse as “discreet and consensual”, a profile similar to that of Harald Krüger. The supervisory board chaired by Norbert Reithofer cautiously makes the choice of continuity. Unlike his predecessor, the new leader is however comfortable in public. The daily “Handelsblatt” presents Oliver Zipse as a sort of “Foreign Minister” of the group, a “polyglot gentleman” who speaks English without an accent (he studied computer science and mathematics in the US) and is still impeccably dressed.
Oliver Zipse was the favorite of the other contender, R & D chief Klaus Fröhlich, since Harald Krüger announced in early July its intention not to seek a second term. The daily “Handelsblatt” had previously revealed the doubts of the supervisory board on the future Harald Krüger at the head of the group, position he has held since 2015, while BMW meets turbulence.
Quarterly loss
Accustomed to break record-breaking record, the 130,000-employee builder – who saw his big rival Mercedes (Daimler group) steal him first place on the podium of the German premium manufacturers in 2016 – recorded a decline in profits in 2018, before wiping out in the first quarter of 2019 its first operational loss in ten years. Under pressure as its competitors face the massive investment needed in the electric car and autonomous, the group announced in March a savings plan of 12 billion euros by 2022.
“In my opinion, Harald Krüger has not responded at all to the question of where BMW is heading,” said Jürgen Pieper, an automotive analyst at Metzler Bank. It is criticized in particular the leader for having lost the advance of the manufacturer in terms of electromobility, while BMW had launched in 2013 its electric car i3. The group, which put today especially on the rechargeable hybrid was caught up by the competition. Including that of the American Tesla who launched, conversely, massively in the high-end electric. The group has set itself the goal of offering 25 electrified models by 2023.