Hyperdrive
Slow Transition to Electric Fells BMW’s CEO After Just One Term
- CEO Harald Krueger tells board he won’t renew contract
- ‘BMW took its head start in electric cars for granted’
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When BMW AG picked Harald Krueger to run the company more than four years ago, he was the perfect candidate. Young, with a personable manner and decades of experience across the company, Krueger appeared ready to guide the venerable luxury carmaker into a future of electric, self-driving and shared automobiles.
But on Friday -- two weeks before his contract came up for renewal -- Krueger quit. Instead of leading the company through the biggest upheaval in a generation, he was felled by the transition as he failed to provide a roadmap to the future. In his farewell note, he cited the “enormous exertion” demanded of BMW employees as the company grapples with the unprecedented demands of the shift.