BMW has confirmed that production specialist Milan Nedeljković will succeed Oliver Zipse as its CEO.
The move has been approved by the supervisory board and Nedeljković take over immediately after BMW's annual general meeting, planned to take place on 14 May 2026.
Nedeljković joined BMW in 1993 and has held management roles at the company’s Oxford, Leipzig, Munich and corporate quality divisions before joining the management board in 2019.
BMW has confirmed the Serbian's contract as CEO will run until 2031.
Zipse, who has spent 35 years at BMW, has led the German car maker since 2019.
His tenure as CEO covered a turbulent period for the automotive industry, including the Covid pandemic, supply-chain disruptions and the early stages of BMW’s electrification strategy.
He positioned the Neue Klasse as BMW’s defining technology and product programme for the next decade, although the company has faced criticism for initially moving more cautiously toward fully electric models than some rivals.
Supervisory board chairman Nicolas Peter said Nedeljković was chosen for his “strategic foresight” and “entrepreneurial thinking”, as well as his reputation for resource discipline.
The appointment puts a production and manufacturing expert, rather than a sales or product strategist, in charge at BMW at a time when it's set to expand its line-up with up to six new electric models based on its Neue Klasse EV platform, beginning with the forthcoming second-generation iX3.
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