Quote:
Originally posted by RickC
How could someone think that the man who ruined the looks of BMW's should keep going?
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BMW's management board does not want to admit that it made a ghastly mistake. But kicking him upstairs to a less direct role in styling indicates that they feel they must at least pay some lip service to all the criticism. Its rather like the situation at Daimler. Ever since Schrempp took over in the early 1990s he has run Daimler into the ground with unprofitable acquisitions (he even tried to take over Fiat, before GM bought in), and DCX is worth less now than Daimler was worth by itself before the takeover (er, I mean ... merger). Daimler's board has reacted to criticism of Schrempp by rallying around him and extending his term. If they dump him it will reflect poorly on their judgment in appointing him in the first place (same with Bangle). BMW needs to bring Wolfgang Reitzle back from exile at Linde.
Moderator, may I put in some self promotion? I have a new book on global mergers in the auto industry:
John Conybeare, "Merging Traffic" (Rowman and Littlefield, 2003).
My daughter is going to Yale this fall and I am going to have to come up with $50K per year. I need sales!