BMW has named its top production manager, Oliver Zipse, as CEO to lead the luxury automaker through a shift to new ways of doing business such as electric vehicles and offering cars on a per-use basis.
The company said Thursday that Zipse, 55, would succeed Harald Krueger on Aug. 16. Krueger, 53, had said July 5 he would not seek to renew his contract when it expires next May.
The BMW board of directors made the decision during a meeting at its plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where it turns out SUVs for U.S. customers and for export.
FILE - In this March 20, 2019, file photo CEO of the German car manufacturer BMW, Harald Krueger, attends the earnings press conference in Munich, Germany. BMW’s board of directors was to meet in Spartanburg, S.C., on Thursday, July 18. The Munich-based company is in the process of finding a successor to Krueger, who is not seeking a contract extension (AP PhotoMatthias Schrader, File)
Krueger's tenure has seen the company lose its global lead in luxury sales to rival Mercedes. The company built an early lead in battery cars with its i3 city car, but was slow to follow up with more battery models, choosing to emphasize battery-internal combustion hybrids while Tesla seized market share in premium battery cars.
Zipse, a mechanical engineer who started at BMW as a trainee in 1991, must now steer the company through a shifting business environment in which software and services are playing an increasing role. Tesla has challenged automakers in the field of electric cars, while tech companies Waymo and Uber are working on autonomous vehicles. BMW has joined its services businesses in a joint venture with competitor Daimler AG, maker of Mercedes-Benz cars. Those businesses include its Free Now taxi-hailing and its Share Now carsharing service.
BMW board chairman Norbert Reithofer, who was Krueger's predecessor as CEO, said that Zipse "will provide the BMW Group with fresh momentum in shaping the mobility of the future."
BMW lost 310 million euros on its automotive business in the first quarter after the company was hit by a 1.4 billion euro ($1.6 billion) charge for an anti-trust case and by higher upfront costs for new technology. Only the financial services and motorcycle divisions pushed the company to a net profit of 588 million euros.
The company reports second quarter earnings on Aug. 1.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk expressed satisfaction on Monday after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor.
Candidates from his pro-European Union centrist Civic Coalition, or running with the party's backing, won in a series of cities in the second round of local elections held on Sunday, among them Krakow, Poznan, Wroclaw and Rzeszow.
“It is very difficult to clearly say who won and who lost,” Tusk said Monday. “But if we compare these results, especially in the most attractive places, on these attractive battlefields ... then I actually have reasons for satisfaction.”
“Law and Justice has simply disappeared in many places,” Tusk added at a news conference, referring to the main opposition party.
The results put Civic Coalition in a favorable position as the country looks next to elections to the European Parliament on June 9.
Mayors were chosen in a total of 748 cities and towns where no single candidate won at least 50% of the vote during the first round on April 7.
Candidates for Tusk’s party also recaptured cities where they had not held power for many years, including Zielona Gora, Legnica and Torun.
The local and regional elections were viewed as a test for Tusk's pro-European Union government four months after it took power at the national level. Sunday's second round strengthened the Tusk government's leverage in the cities, which should facilitate cooperation on development projects and allotment of EU funds.
Tusk's allies also won in some places in the first round two weeks ago, including in Warsaw, where incumbent Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski was an easy victor.
In the first round, the right-wing Law and Justice, prevailed on the level of regional assemblies in the country's 16 provinces, where it took 34.3% of the votes, while Tusk's Civic Coalition got 30.6%. Law and Justice governed on the national level from 2015-23.
Tusk’s socially liberal Civic Coalition traditionally has strong support in cities, while Law and Justice has a more solid base in conservative rural areas, particularly in eastern Poland.
Civic Coalition is the largest group in a three-party coalition that governs the EU nation of 38 million people. The coalition is pro-European Union but otherwise spans a wide ideological spectrum with left-wing politicians in the Left party as well as conservatives in the Third Way.
Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Campaign posters promote candidates as Poles vote in local and regional elections in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk reacts during his and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meeting with students in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk is celebrating a victory on Monday April 22, 2024 after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk listens to the media in Berlin, Germany, Friday, March 15, 2024. Tusk is celebrating a victory on Monday April 22, 2024 after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
