Becoming a tech firm with eye on mobility
We spoke to Pieter Nota, one of the key people managing BMW’s evolution from being a traditional car maker
Those who are familiar with the South African and global automotive industry will know the name Ian Robertson well. He recently retired from the position of global boss of sales and marketing for BMW, but in the local context he is well known for having been the CEO of BMW SA for a number of years. Robertson’s position has now been taken by Pieter Nota and we caught up with him recently at the Paris motor show. Nota is in the crucial position of overseeing the transformation of BMW from being a traditional car maker to a technology company. This includes the introduction of things like the personal assistant that will debut in the new 3 Series next year. It also includes the move to electric vehicles, in particular the iNext and i4 in a few years’ time. Things are looking healthy for the company in the EV market, with Nota pointing out that BMW sold 100,000 EVs in 2017 but crucially, it has already hit this sales number in the first nine months of 2018. The transformation also means...
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