Who is Milan Nedeljkovic? BMW appoints new CEO amid EV bets to take on Tesla, Chinese automakers

German automaker giant BMW Group announced on Tuesday, December 9, 2025 that its board of directors appointed Milan Nedeljkovic as the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), amid allegations that the automaker is struggling with rivals such as Tesla and other Chinese companies in the electric vehicle (EV) space.

The automaker also announced that Nedeljković will take over the role from May 14, 2026, replacing Oliver Zipse, who has served in this role since 2019. Following the board meeting to be held in 2026, Oliver Zipse will leave the BMW board of directors after completing his 35th year with the company and the extended period beyond retirement age.

“Milan Nedeljković will assume the role of Chairman of the Management Board of BMW AG from May 14, 2026. The Supervisory Board of the company took this decision today,” according to a press release on Tuesday.

According to a recent news Reuters According to the report, BMW’s appointment of Nedeljković is a move to retard the automaker’s sales growth, especially in the Chinese market, despite the rise of local rivals in the Asian country.

“The success of the Nedeljkovic era will be determined in China,” Moritz Kronenberger, portfolio manager of BMW shareholder Union Investment, told the news agency.

Kronenberger also called on the company to move forward with autonomous driving, stating that Level 3 capabilities in cars should be made available to all offerings in the future to keep up with industry leader Elon Musk’s EV giant Tesla.

Who is Milan Nedeljkovic?

Born in Krusevac, Serbia, Milan Nedeljkovic is an industry veteran with more than 30 years of company experience at the German automobile manufacturer.

Nedeljkovic has been a member of the Board of Management of BMW AG since 1 October 2019 and is responsible for the company’s production, spread across 31 sites in 15 countries worldwide, with approximately 60,000 employees working under his supervision.

Milan Nedeljkovic joined the BMW Group in 1993 as a trainee at the company’s Munich plant, and after years of rising through the ranks, the 56-year-old veteran became Head of Assembly at the BMW Group’s plant in Leipzig in 2010.

In 2015, he became General Manager of the BMW Group’s Plant in Munich. In 2018, he became Senior Vice President of Corporate Quality at the German automaker and most recently joined the Board of Directors of BMW AG in 2019.

According to the company’s website, Nedeljkovic completed his mechanical engineering studies at RWTH Aachen University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, United States, between 1988 and 1993.

Nedeljkovic then completed his doctorate at the Department of Forming Technology and Foundry Engineering at the Technical University of Munich between 2000 and 2004.