FRANKFURT — BMW’s production chief, Oliver Zipse, will be picked to succeed Harald Krueger as CEO, the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper reported, citing people within the company as its source.
BMW said on Friday that Krueger will not seek another term of office beyond his current contract running until April 30, 2020, pre-empting deliberations about whether he would get another 5-year extension at the automaker.
BMW declined to comment on “speculation” about potential CEO candidates and said the matter would be discussed at a supervisory board meeting on July 18.
German business paper Handelsblatt reported last month that there were two internal front-runners for Krueger’s job. The paper named Zipse, 55, but also said Klaus Froehlich, head of development, was a candidate.
Froehlich, 59, may be too old for the top job because BMW normally imposes a 60-year age limit on its upper management. Both executives currently sit on the automaker’s management board. Froehlich will continue…
