Olive continues Dacia's success story

BMW's Diess achieves massive cost-cutting goal

Four years ago, BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer gave his purchasing chief, Herbert Diess, a very challenging task: Reduce material costs by 4 billion euros by 2012. Not only did Diess deliver, he completed the mission more than a year ahead of schedule despite massive volatility in the price of raw materials.... Read More »

Winterkorn has VW soaring to new heights

Just about everything Martin Winterkorn touches turns to gold these days. As head of Volkswagen Group, he has gone on record saying that the car company will be the world's biggest by 2018. His vision looks more real than ever.... Read More »

Hellsten gives Volvo its Mercedes-beating quality

Volvo is positioned well, and it has manufacturing boss Magnus Hellsten to thank for the progress. In June, Volvo was tops in the J.D. Power and Associates Vehicle Ownership Satisfaction Study in Germany, rising from seventh last year to overtake last year's No. 1, Mercedes-Benz.... Read More »

Philpott leads Kia Europe’s sale surge

Paul Philpott has clear priorities in life. “What is important to me are my family and the future of Kia,” Philpott told Automotive News Europe. The married father of two has created substantial value for his employer. After joining Kia as its UK chief in 2007, the Englishman turned around the brand’s UK business, boosting its market share to 2.3 percent in 2009 from 1.... Read More »

Bakaj makes Ford’s models greener

After winning praise for renewing Ford Motor Co.’s product lineup in Europe, then globally, Joseph Bakaj now must make the company’s powertrains greener. Bakaj said his latest role takes him back to when he joined Ford in 1985 in the UK to work on powertrains. This time, the challenges are bigger.... Read More »

Fisker delivers on promise to launch super-green luxury car

As the designer of cars like the Aston Martin DB9 and BMW Z8, Henrik Fisker proved his creative skills. Now the Danish-born businessman has shown his entrepreneurial talent by raising $1 billion to launch a company to build stylish sports cars that are also environmentally friendly.... Read More »

Loing's drive pushes Nissan Leaf to European Car of the Year award

It's safe to say that the Nissan Leaf would not be the reigning European Car of the Year had it not been for the persistence of Pierre Loing. Nissan Europe's head of product strategy and planning convinced his bosses to enter the Leaf in the contest.... Read More »

Herrmann cooks up master recipe for key Ford platform

As a keen cook, Gunnar Herrmann loves to serve a tasty paella to his family. But lately the veteran engineer isn't spending too much time in the kitchen. Instead, Herrmann is creating the master recipe for Ford's C-segment compact architecture that will underpin 10 vehicles.... Read More »

Andersson leads GAZ back from the brink of bankruptcy

As General Motors' global purchasing chief, Bo Andersson reinvented the way GM did business with more than 3,000 global parts suppliers. Now the former Swedish Army colonel is reinventing GAZ, Russia's second-biggest automaker – and winning lots of praise.... Read More »

Dodge helps make Nissan one of Europe’s hottest brands

Nissan is one of Europe’s hottest brands and much of its success is due to Colin Dodge. In 2010, the Japanese automaker’s top-ranked executive for Europe helped Nissan post its highest market share in Europe since 1995.... Read More »

Bolzenius’ shrewd moves that make Johnson Controls stronger

Johnson Controls Inc.’s seating business in Europe has been given a huge boost this year because of two key acquisitions spearheaded by Beda Bolzenius. The head of JCI’s automotive experience unit played a leading role in the U.S.-based supplier’s purchase of German seat specialists C. Rob. Hammerstein Group, Keiper and Keiper’s specialty seat business, Recaro.... Read More »

Fehrenbach has Bosch on a record-breaking course

Robert Bosch would be delighted to see the financial results current Bosch Chairman Franz Fehrenbach presented this past year. Bosch’s automotive and non-automotive sales grew 24 percent to 47.3 billion euros ($67.8 billion) last year. The company’s 2010 profit before tax was 3.5 billion euros, resulting in a 7.4 percent return on sales.... Read More »

Van den Acker reshapes Renault’s design

Laurens van den Acker is reshaping Renault as a brand with bold new designs that represent a break from the past.... Read More »

Strotbek helps keep the profits rolling at Audi

Audi continues to report all-time highs in sales and profitability. In the first half, the brand booked record figures for all key financial indicators. The company looks set for a record 2011 – after a record 2010. Axel Strotbek is the man making sure that the numbers add up.... Read More »