Debrecen4U
December 10, 2025
BMW Group appoints its new CEO
The BMW Supervisory Board has made its decision. After Oliver Zipse leaves the board of directors following the annual general meeting next May, as planned, the company’s leadership will be taken over by Milan Nedeljkovic.
The 56‑year‑old expert began his professional career at BMW as an intern in 1993 and over the past three decades has gained extensive international experience. He has held leadership positions in Oxford, Leipzig, and Munich, and his Management Board contract has been extended until 2031.
Nicolas Peter, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of BMW AG, praised Milan Nedeljkovic’s strategic foresight, creativity, and leadership qualities, highlighting his ability to inspire people and thereby achieve top performance.
“Nedeljkovic will succeed Oliver Zipse, who has been a member of the BMW AG Management Board for more than ten years and has served as Chairman since August 2019, achieving outstanding results during his tenure. Zipse made a significant contribution to the success of the BMW Group, steering the company through global crises such as the COVID pandemic and keeping it on the right path even in the most difficult times,” as noted by Nicolas Peter. He emphasized that Zipse always put BMW’s success first, and his name is associated with the Neue Klasse, the largest strategic project in the company’s history.
In 2023, Zipse’s contract as chairman was extended beyond the usual retirement age until 2026. Next May, after 35 years of service, he will leave the BMW Group.
The Debrecen BMW Plant is also a benchmark for sustainability
Milan Nedeljkovic’s name has often been in the news as the production director of the BMW Group Plant Debrecen. It is no coincidence that the German car manufacturer treats the Debrecen plant as a guiding project for the coming decades, which is also a “standard of sustainability.”
“This is our first plant that operates entirely without gas—it is not even connected to the grid. We designed all processes to run on electric energy, and one of the largest solar parks will also be built here,” said Milan Nedeljkovic after the inauguration of the Debrecen plant.
With the inauguration of the Debrecen plant, a new era has begun in BMW’s history
The BMW iX3 marks the start of a new era, introducing a generation that will reshape the brand; Oliver Zipse expressed this at the inauguration ceremony of the Debrecen plant.
Oliver Zipse highlighted in his speech that Debrecen is the “plant of superlatives,” and if they had to decide today, they would choose this city just as they did seven years ago. According to Oliver Zipse, the Debrecen factory can be a good example for the entire automotive industry. He noted that the Debrecen plant can serve as a model for the entire automotive industry.
Future technology is central to BMW’s vision. The pioneering model of the Neue Klasse, the BMW iX3, offers a range of 800 kilometers, 10-minute fast charging, and modern driver assistance systems, which puts it ahead of its Chinese competitors.
Production of the iX3 will start this year, and in the coming period the plant will be able to produce up to 150,000 new cars per year.
Source: dehir.hu | Photo credit:DMJV
