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      09-23-2014, 11:30 AM   #1
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BMW M Gets New CEO - Ex-Audi Quattro Head Franciscus van Meel

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BMW M GmbH will get a new chairman from 1 January 2015, with Franciscus van Meel taking over from retiring chief Dr. Friedrich Nitschke.

The appointment is notable because van Meel, 48, joins BMW after leading Audi’s quattro GmbH division – and has not even joined BMW Group yet: his first day is 1 October.

Van Meel has worked at Audi AG since 1996, in chassis development and technical management, becoming MD of quattro GmbH in 2012.

However, earlier this year, van Meel was reportedly stood down from leading quattro and reassigned to Audi’s Chinese division, after rumours emerged of a fallout with Audi development boss Ulrich Hackenberg over the direction of the new Audi R8. It seems BMW has taken advantage of Audi’s internal strife and poached the former rising star.

It’s a fond farewell for Nitschke, who’s worked at BMW Group for 36 years. He worked up through the company and first came to the public eye in 2007 when he took over vehicle development for MINI. In 2011, he became BMW M GmbH Chairman, creating the BMW M Performance Automobiles division and also leading the new turbo V8 M3 saloon and M4 Coupe.

Dr. Herbert Diess, Member of the Board of Management for Development, said: “The position of M GmbH on the market has never been better in the company’s history and it continues to achieve sales record after sales record.

“Friedrich Nitschke has done outstanding work over the past years and has made a crucial contribution to the success of the company. The entire Board of Management of BMW AG would like to express its gratitude to him.”

source: http://www.motoringresearch.com/car-...ion-0923949788
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      09-23-2014, 11:37 AM   #2
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Here comes AWD Ms!
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      09-23-2014, 11:55 AM   #3
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Here comes AWD Ms!
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      09-23-2014, 12:59 PM   #4
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Here comes AWD Ms!
And 80/20 weight distribution.
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      09-23-2014, 01:06 PM   #5
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Here comes AWD Ms!
I really hope this never happens, it was enough with the v8s being taken away, not the fun please
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      09-23-2014, 04:14 PM   #6
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Here comes AWD Ms!
Or options of AWD or RWD (similar to M235i - I know not necessarily a real "M" car)
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      09-23-2014, 05:41 PM   #7
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If you have the option of both, neither will be spectacular.
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      09-23-2014, 06:08 PM   #8
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It would have been better to promote someone from M division.
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      09-23-2014, 06:10 PM   #9
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I bet he turns out to be a very competent executive and a real car guy.
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      09-23-2014, 06:10 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rev ///Me
BMW M GmbH will get a new chairman from 1 January 2015, with Franciscus van Meel taking over from retiring chief Dr. Friedrich Nitschke.

The appointment is notable because van Meel, 48, joins BMW after leading Audi’s quattro GmbH division – and has not even joined BMW Group yet: his first day is 1 October.

Van Meel has worked at Audi AG since 1996, in chassis development and technical management, becoming MD of quattro GmbH in 2012.

However, earlier this year, van Meel was reportedly stood down from leading quattro and reassigned to Audi’s Chinese division, after rumours emerged of a fallout with Audi development boss Ulrich Hackenberg over the direction of the new Audi R8. It seems BMW has taken advantage of Audi’s internal strife and poached the former rising star.

It’s a fond farewell for Nitschke, who’s worked at BMW Group for 36 years. He worked up through the company and first came to the public eye in 2007 when he took over vehicle development for MINI. In 2011, he became BMW M GmbH Chairman, creating the BMW M Performance Automobiles division and also leading the new turbo V8 M3 saloon and M4 Coupe.

Dr. Herbert Diess, Member of the Board of Management for Development, said: “The position of M GmbH on the market has never been better in the company’s history and it continues to achieve sales record after sales record.

“Friedrich Nitschke has done outstanding work over the past years and has made a crucial contribution to the success of the company. The entire Board of Management of BMW AG would like to express its gratitude to him.”

source: http://www.motoringresearch.com/car-...ion-0923949788
Turbo v8 m3 and m4 saloon?
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      09-23-2014, 06:13 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mdecisive
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rev ///Me
BMW M GmbH will get a new chairman from 1 January 2015, with Franciscus van Meel taking over from retiring chief Dr. Friedrich Nitschke.

The appointment is notable because van Meel, 48, joins BMW after leading Audi’s quattro GmbH division – and has not even joined BMW Group yet: his first day is 1 October.

Van Meel has worked at Audi AG since 1996, in chassis development and technical management, becoming MD of quattro GmbH in 2012.

However, earlier this year, van Meel was reportedly stood down from leading quattro and reassigned to Audi’s Chinese division, after rumours emerged of a fallout with Audi development boss Ulrich Hackenberg over the direction of the new Audi R8. It seems BMW has taken advantage of Audi’s internal strife and poached the former rising star.

It’s a fond farewell for Nitschke, who’s worked at BMW Group for 36 years. He worked up through the company and first came to the public eye in 2007 when he took over vehicle development for MINI. In 2011, he became BMW M GmbH Chairman, creating the BMW M Performance Automobiles division and also leading the new turbo V8 M3 saloon and M4 Coupe.

Dr. Herbert Diess, Member of the Board of Management for Development, said: “The position of M GmbH on the market has never been better in the company’s history and it continues to achieve sales record after sales record.

“Friedrich Nitschke has done outstanding work over the past years and has made a crucial contribution to the success of the company. The entire Board of Management of BMW AG would like to express its gratitude to him.”

source: http://www.motoringresearch.com/car-...ion-0923949788
Turbo v8 m3 and m4 saloon?
That's what the hell I was wondering about. Say WHAT?
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      09-23-2014, 06:15 PM   #12
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Why would they pick some one from another company that has different views of what a performance car is
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      09-23-2014, 06:18 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mdecisive View Post
Turbo v8 m3 and m4 saloon?
I'd say misprint. They just built the S55, plus the comment was about the old M boss.
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      09-23-2014, 06:21 PM   #14
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Yeah, very mixed feelings here. I would have rather heard that he was not liking the Audi product any more over leaving due to bickering. He may be an Audi man for life, know what I mean.
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      09-23-2014, 06:25 PM   #15
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If it's not a misprint, are we gonna see the turbo 4.4L V8 stuff'd in the M3/4?
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      09-23-2014, 06:29 PM   #16
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Right after it becomes BMW Kwattro



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If it's not a misprint, are we gonna see the turbo 4.4L V8 stuff'd in the M3/4?
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      09-23-2014, 06:32 PM   #17
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this guy sucked at Audi....not he's gonna screw up M....fail.
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      09-23-2014, 06:42 PM   #18
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This is me reading WAY too much into these paragraphs, but they scare me for the following reasons:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rev ///Me View Post

Van Meel has worked at Audi AG since 1996, in chassis development and technical management, becoming MD of quattro GmbH in 2012.
While they make great cars, Audi chassis aren't known to be as nimble as BMW's. Would hate to see sacrifices be made to handling in order to accommodate AWD cars.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rev ///Me View Post
However, earlier this year, van Meel was reportedly stood down from leading quattro and reassigned to Audi’s Chinese division, after rumours emerged of a fallout with Audi development boss Ulrich Hackenberg over the direction of the new Audi R8. It seems BMW has taken advantage of Audi’s internal strife and poached the former rising star.
I don't know what kind of arguments were happening over the direction of the new R8. But I do know that it's shedding weight and staying naturally-aspirated (at least the V10 model is). If Ulrich was the one pushing for that direction, then you assume Van Meel was pushing for something other than lightening the weight and keeping the engine NA, which is bad news.

Anyway, I guess time will tell. Given how far car product pipelines run, we likely won't see his influence for a number of years.
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      09-23-2014, 06:42 PM   #19
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      09-23-2014, 06:55 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mdecisive
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rev ///Me
BMW M GmbH will get a new chairman from 1 January 2015, with Franciscus van Meel taking over from retiring chief Dr. Friedrich Nitschke.

The appointment is notable because van Meel, 48, joins BMW after leading Audi’s quattro GmbH division – and has not even joined BMW Group yet: his first day is 1 October.

Van Meel has worked at Audi AG since 1996, in chassis development and technical management, becoming MD of quattro GmbH in 2012.

However, earlier this year, van Meel was reportedly stood down from leading quattro and reassigned to Audi’s Chinese division, after rumours emerged of a fallout with Audi development boss Ulrich Hackenberg over the direction of the new Audi R8. It seems BMW has taken advantage of Audi’s internal strife and poached the former rising star.

It’s a fond farewell for Nitschke, who’s worked at BMW Group for 36 years. He worked up through the company and first came to the public eye in 2007 when he took over vehicle development for MINI. In 2011, he became BMW M GmbH Chairman, creating the BMW M Performance Automobiles division and also leading the new turbo V8 M3 saloon and M4 Coupe.

Dr. Herbert Diess, Member of the Board of Management for Development, said: “The position of M GmbH on the market has never been better in the company’s history and it continues to achieve sales record after sales record.

“Friedrich Nitschke has done outstanding work over the past years and has made a crucial contribution to the success of the company. The entire Board of Management of BMW AG would like to express its gratitude to him.”

source: http://www.motoringresearch.com/car-...ion-0923949788
Turbo v8 m3 and m4 saloon?
+1 I was just gonna say.
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      09-23-2014, 07:00 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by IEDEI View Post
this guy sucked at Audi....not he's gonna screw up M....fail.
Is that even possible? I mean...
No M is perfect what am I saying.
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      09-23-2014, 07:05 PM   #22
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At first i was like "damn here go the AWD boring sounding BMWs" but now that I'm thinking of it, he will probably take advantage of being freed from Audi's AWD / cookie-cutter culture.

It's not like M was going in a great direction anyway lol. Either way you cut it, we're headed toward an all turbo, all wheel drive, M lineup.
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