BMW R&D head moves to Volkswagen

Top level hierarchy at BMW and Volkswagen has undergone a shuffle recently. In a major switch, Herbert Diess who was head of Research & Development at BMW will now be chairman of the Volkswagen passenger car brand. Diess will take up the new role from Volkswagen Group chairman Martin Winterkorn, on October 1, 2015.

In his current functioning as part of the board of management at BMW, he is not only responsible for existing BMW and BMW M models, but also its successor models. He is also incharge of the future technical innovations that the German car maker is currently developing.

On the appoitment, Winterkorn said, “With Herbert Diess, we will be welcoming an outstanding personality and one of the most capable minds in the automotive industry, to our company. At the same time, this step puts the executive management of both the Volkswagen Group and the Volkswagen brand on an even broader footing".

On the BMW end, it has been announced that Klaus Fröhlich will head R&D. The big announcement came when current head of production Harald Krueger was confirmed as the successor to the current CEO Norbert Reithofer, when he steps down in May 2015. Reithofer is likely to join the supervisory board as chairman.