BMW CEO Steps Down After Too-Cautious Strategy Loses Market Share
Having presided over the German marque for four years, Harald Krueger is stepping down as CEO or BMW. He will not seek an extension of his contract, effective through April of 2020, and the board will be discussing his successor on July 1[ads1]8th. In the meantime, Krueger will remain in position until a successor is named. According to AP News, Krueger is under fire for unloading BMW's lead in luxury car sales, and starts failing to capitalize on an early lux EV.
Over the course of four years, Krueger held office over what is possibly BMW's worst era. The company has taken hit after hit, release its lead in the luxury segment to Mercedes-Benz, and failing to make meaningful inroads on electric drive, autonomous tech, emission tech, and a wildly changing global economy.
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Earlier this year BMW was hit with a 1.4 billion euro in an anti- trust case which found the car maker guilty of collaborating with other car makers to fix prices of certain technologies and delay the release of lower emission tech. It's likely that this has come into play in Krueger's decision, as this contributed to BMW cars showing in Q1 2019 in the red, saved only by the profits of BMW financial and BMW Motorrad. Meanwhile, even without counting the finale, the company has experienced its lowest profit since the 2008 recession.
A plan was recently announced for BMW to cut costs by as much as $ 13.6 billion, including dropping some models from its ever expanding lineup, and ending an international racing program.
Anyway, it has not been a good four years for Krueger.
