Raymond Wittmann succeeds Nedeljković as BMW production head
It had already been confirmed last December that the Supervisory Board would need to appoint a new board member for production. The move followed the announcement that Milan Nedeljković, currently responsible for production, will succeed Oliver Zipse as BMW CEO at the Annual General Meeting in May.
BMW has now selected an internal successor: 47-year-old Raymond Wittmann. The manager has been with the BMW Group since 2015 and has headed Corporate Strategy and Development since 2024.
During his eleven years at BMW, Wittmann has held several management positions across different divisions, gaining extensive insight into the company’s operations – including in production, which will be central to his new role. Among other positions, he served as Head of Assembly at the Munich plant, CFO for the Americas sales region and project manager for the establishment of the San Luis Potosí production site in Mexico.
Wittmann has already been appointed to the Board of Management but does not yet oversee a division—this will take effect around the time of the Annual General Meeting. Until then, he will be mentored by Nedeljković. The future Production Director also brings a technical background: he holds a doctorate in aerospace engineering and has previously worked as a partner at an international strategy consultancy.
“Raymond Wittmann combines strategic thinking with operational excellence and business responsibility. With his broad, cross-divisional experience and international perspective, he has the key qualities for leading the production division,” said Dr. Nicolas Peter, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of BMW AG. “Raymond Wittmann complements the future Board of Management team led by Milan Nedeljkovic with the right strengths and skills. The Supervisory Board is very confident that the Board of Management, in its new composition, will continue to drive the success of the BMW Group in the future.”
Wittmann will initially continue the work of his predecessor, Nedeljković: BMW is in the midst of rolling out its Neue Klasse, a new platform for electric vehicles that introduces significant changes—such as advances in battery technology and electronic architecture, which now relies on a few central computers.
At the new BMW plant in Debrecen, series production of the iX3 has already begun under Nedeljković, while the Munich plant will transition from pre-series production of the i3 to full-scale production later this year. Among other tasks, Wittmann will oversee the rollout of the Neue Klasse across additional global BMW plants—including the Mexican plant in San Luis Potosí, which he once helped establish.
The position of Production Director at BMW has long served as a key career stepping stone: since Norbert Reithofer (2006–2015), the Production Director has consistently been appointed as the new BMW CEO.
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