The appointment will become effective following the company's next annual general meeting on 15 May 2015.  In turn Mr Reithofer has been proposed to replace Prof. Joachim Milberg as the head of the supervisory board. Separately, Volkswagen AG has hired BMW’s development chief, Herbert Diess, to take charge of VW’s passenger car brand.

IHS Automotive principal analyst Tim Urquhart said: ‘Krüger has been a member of the BMW executive board since 2008 when he was given responsibility human resources. In 2012 he was put in charge of MINI, BMW Motorbikes, Rolls-Royce and Aftersales, before another quick promotion followed in April 2013, when he was made responsible for Production at the BMW Group. Krüger's rise through the executive ranks at BMW in recent years has been meteoric and it would appear BMW announcement was predicated on VW announcing that Herbert Diess, BMW's current board member for development, has taken the decision to leave BMW and join VW as the chairman of the VW passenger car brand. Diess would also have been a strong contender for the role of BMW Chairman and it is unlikely that his decision to join VW is unconnected with Krüger's appointment.

‘The 49-year-old Krüger will face a number of key challenges in his role, not least maintaining BMW's position as the world's leading premium carmaker by sales volume.  The company also needs to expand its “i” range of EVs and plug-in hybrids profitability, while also rolling out lessons learned on its conventional passenger car range. As part of the “i” project BMW is also investing heavily in-car connectivity and associated applications. As part of this initiative Krüger may look to accelerate a fundamental change towards BMW becoming a provider of future mobility solutions instead of just being a traditional car manufacturing company.  He also needs to manage and expand the company's existing alliances with Toyota, which is helping BMW in a number of key areas to do with future mobility including fuel-cell development, and which have the potential to significantly reduce R&D costs. Longer term the relationship with Toyota has the potential to lead to more comprehensive collaboration on mainstream vehicle projects which could have a major impact on BMW's cost base.’