BMW’s New CEO Set To Reclaim No 1 Spot From Mercedes In The Luxury Segment

55 year Oliver Zipse has officially taken over the chairmanship of the BMW AG Executive Board after his predecessor, Harald Krueger, who took over the company on May 13, 2015, stepped down on August 16, 2019

In his first day as CEO, Oliver Zipse, who began his professional career in the company in 1991 as a Trainee, reportedly issued a letter to his employees, urging them to find innovative ways to help the Bavarian carmaker to regain the top spot in the luxury segment and beat Mercedes-Benz in the process.

He said:
“Instead of blaming the current situation, conditions, political landscape or particular individuals, a positive spirit will enable us to seize the opportunities available to us. Such a positive spirit will be reflected in our culture: the harder the job, the more innovative our solution”

“We don’t always have to be first, but we most certainly have to be far better than our competitors in everything that we do. This applies not only to our products and services, but also to our processes and structures, as well as our costs”

Rolls-Royces parent has lost ground to Mercedes-Benz producer, Daimler, in the past five years and has seen US automaker Tesla jump ahead in electric car sales.

Despite numerous uncertainties and crises around the world, the BMW Group is oncourse for a record year in 2019. After seven months, sales are about 0.9 percent above the previous year’s record.

Whether this call to action will work or not remains to be seen.