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Four years after taking the helm of BMW, Harald Krüger pulls a Lyndon Johnson. Bimmer's 27-year-old veteran has decided not to run for a second term as CEO, the automaker said Friday, leaving him looking for new leadership at a pivotal moment in his history. .
It seems that Krüger is fed up with guiding the German luxury brand in an increasingly thorny landscape, facing the challenges posed by stagnant sales in the West, an economic downturn in the East and costly and indispensable roadmaps.
"After more than ten years on the Board of Directors, including more than four years as CEO of the BMW Group, I want to pursue new business activities and leverage my diverse international experience for new projects and businesses," said Krüger in a statement reported by the BMW Supervisory Board.
Krüger's predecessor, Dr. Robert Reithofer, currently president of BMW AG, praised Krüger's "unwavering dedication" and his "great personal commitment" to the automaker. The council sits to choose a successor on July 18th.
Unlike Audi and its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, BMW has taken a more cautious approach to electrified tenders, without which no automaker can do without, meaning the brand's next iX3 electric crossover will be marketed. after similar models of Audi and Mercedes-Benz. Jaguar has taken a leap forward on all German automakers of this nascent segment.
Indeed, the slow progress made by BMW for electrification and the strange choice of an introductory EV model (the i3 niche) was seen as a major task of Krüger's time as CEO . As the company plans to sell 25 electrified vehicles by 2023 and create a trio of "normal" electric models within a few years, ambitions are higher elsewhere in the industry. The latest additions to BMW are an impressive SUV (X7), a redesigned 3 Series Sedan and a revived Ultra 8 Series ultra-lux coupe.
During Krüger's tenure, BMW is behind Mercedes-Benz in global sales – an embarrassment after years at the peak of sales. The market share of the European manufacturer in Europe fell in 2017 and last year, its sales increased by 180%.
A similar model has hit the US market, although the annual sales declines seen in 2016 and 2017 seem to be a thing of the past. Sales rebounded slightly in 2018 and rose 2% from the first half of 2019. BMW can give thanks to the X7, which sold more units this year than the X4 and X6 combined. According to the company, models such as the X7 are needed to finance the expensive development of low-margin green vehicles.
Although BMW, under Krüger's leadership, pushed the limits of its new electrified model collection (the target date was initially set at 2025), the brand is still considered late. Maybe history will show that the cautious approach is the right one, although the zealous hatred of all that European lawmakers do ICE says the opposite.
[Image: BMW Group]
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