Last week, the German business newspaper Handelsblatt wrote about a decision taken by the higher-ups in Munich to keep Oliver Zipse as CEO until 2026. It’s now official as a press release issued today confirms the BMW Supervisory Board has voted in favor of extending his contract as Chairman of the Board of Management until 2026. Born in Heidelberg, West Germany, the 59-year-old executive has been a member of the Board of Management since 2015 and Chairman of the Board since August 2019.
Renewing Zipse’s contract wasn’t the only decision taken by the BMW Supervisory Board at today’s meeting. Jochen Goller has been appointed to the Board of Management of BMW and will succeed Pieter Nota by taking the helm of the Customer, Brands, and Sales division from November 1, 2023. Jochen Goller has been working for the luxury automaker since 1999 and held various functions at both the BMW core brand and MINI.
Jochen Goller spent more than 10 years working for the company in the UK and China. He played an important role in BMW’s decision to increase its stake in the joint venture with Brilliance from 50% to 75% last year. As a refresher, the two companies have extended their JV contract until 2040 and have agreed to boost production beyond the 700,000+ cars assembled in 2021.
The Handelsblatt report we mentioned earlier also included details about how BMW is actively searching for candidates to replace Oliver Zipse after 2026. There’s allegedly a list already with three names on it: Milan Nedeljkovic (Head of Production), Joachim Post (Head of Purchasing), and Ilka Horstmeier (Head of Human Resources). However, nothing is official at this point as even if a decision will be taken at some point in the next years, an official announcement won’t be made until closer to when Zipse will step down.
With the Neue Klasse family of EVs rolling out from 2025, these next years are shaping up to be hugely important for BMW, so much so that Frank Weber (Head of Development) said NE represents “the biggest investment ever made.”
Source: BMW