Aniket PujariGerman automaking giant, BMW Group, on Tuesday, 9 December 2025, announced that the board of directors have appointed Milan Nedeljkovic as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company amid the automaker’s electric vehicle (EV) bets to take on rivals like Tesla and other Chinese companies.
The automaker also announced that Nedeljković will assume his role, effective from 14 May 2026, succeeding Oliver Zipse, who has been serving in the role since 2019. After the upcoming board meeting in 2026, Oliver Zipse will leave the board after completing the extended period beyond his retirement age, marking 35 years in the company.
“Milan Nedeljković will assume the role of Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG effective on 14 May 2026. The company’s Supervisory Board took this decision today,” according to a press release on Tuesday.
According to a recent Reuters report, BMW’s appointment of Nedeljković is a move to steer the automaker’s sales growth back, particularly in the Chinese market, amid the rise of local rivals in the Asian nation.
“The success of the Nedeljkovic era will be decided in China,” Moritz Kronenberger, portfolio manager at BMW shareholder Union Investment, told the news agency.
Kronenberger also urged the company to move forward on autonomous driving, citing that Level 3 capabilities in the cars needed to be rolled out across the offerings in future to keep up the pace with the industry leader, Elon Musk’s EV giant, Tesla.
Who is Milan Nedeljkovic?
Milan Nedeljkovic, who was born in Krusevac, Serbia, is an industry veteran who has more than 30 years of company experience in the German automaker.
Nedeljkovic has been a member of the Board of Management at BMW AG since 1 October 2019 and has been responsible for the company’s production spanning across 31 sites in 15 countries around the world, with nearly 60,000 employees working under his supervision.
Milan Nedeljkovic joined the BMW Group as a trainee at the company’s Munich site in the year 1993, and after spending years jumping up the ranks, the 56-year-old veteran became the Head of Assembly at BMW Group’s Plant in Leipzig in 2010.
By 2015, he became the Managing Director of BMW Group’s Plant in Munich. In 2018, he became the Senior Vice President of Corporate Quality at the German automaker, and finally, in 2019, he joined the Board of Management at BMW AG.
According to the company website, Nedeljkovic completed his mechanical engineering from RWTH Aachen University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, United States between 1988 to 1993.
Later, between 2000 and 2004, Nedeljkovic also completed his doctorate at the Chair of Forming Technology and Foundry Engineering of the Technical University of Munich.
Key Takeaways
- Milan Nedeljkovic brings over three decades of experience within BMW, indicating strong internal leadership.
- His appointment comes at a critical time as BMW aims to enhance its competitiveness in the EV market, particularly against Tesla.
- The focus on the Chinese market highlights the shifting dynamics in global automotive sales and the importance of local competition.
