Eberhard von Kuenheim

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German. (April 2010) Click [show] for important translation instructions.

View a machine-translated version of the German article.
Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Eberhard von Kuenheim]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template {{Translated|de|Eberhard von Kuenheim}} to the talk page.
For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Eberhard von Kuenheim
Born	(1928-10-02) 2 October 1928 (age 95) Juditten, East Prussia, Germany
Nationality	German
Occupation(s)	CEO, BMW (1970 - 1993)
Known for	being the Chairman of the Executive Board of BMW, 1970–1993
Predecessor	Gerhard Wilcke
Successor	Bernd Pischetsrieder
Children	Hendrik von Kuenheim, general director of BMW Motorrad^[1]

Dr.-Ing. E.h. Eberhard von Kuenheim (born 2 October 1928) is a German industrial manager. He was Chairman of the executive board (effectively CEO) of the BMW Group, between 1970^[2] and 1993.

Biography

Kuenheim was born in Juditten (Polish: Judyty) near Bartenstein, (East Prussia). His father died of a riding accident in 1935,^[3]^[4] his mother died in a Soviet NKVD camp after World War II.^[3]^[5]

Kuenheim fled the advancing Red Army in early 1945 and was evacuated via Pillau to Western Germany in March 1945 throughout the Operation Hannibal.^[3]

He studied mechanical engineering until 1954 at the Technical University of Stuttgart^[6] and joined the Quandt Group, BMW's largest shareholder since 1959, in 1965.^[3]

On 1 January 1970, Kuenheim became the CEO of the BMW Group. When Kuenheim became CEO, BMW had 23,000 employees; when he left the post in 1993, the number had risen to 71,000.^[7] Kuenheim "transformed BMW from a small, unfocused manufacturer of cars and motorcycles into a world performance luxury icon".^[8]

After Bernd Pischetsrieder followed him as CEO, Kuenheim guided BMW's supervisory board until 1999. Today Kuenheim is the head of BMW's Eberhard-von-Kuenheim-Foundation. He is also an Honorary Senator of the Technical University of Munich, which named a building at the mechanical engineering faculty after him.

References

^ Booth, David (1 May 2010). "Motorrad boss a true biker". The National. Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Media. Archived from the original on 3 April 2013. Before his father, Eberhard von Kuenheim, became CEO in 1970, BMW was an odd little manufacturer best known for eccentric motorcycles and quirky bubble cars.
^ "E. von Kuenheim (BMW) "Growth through flexibility". An exclusive interview with Edouard Seidler". Autocar. Vol. 145 (nbr 4172). 23 October 1976. pp. 114–115.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Bernd Ziesemer (2006). Pioniere der deutschen Wirtschaft (in German). ISBN 978-3-593-38121-3. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
^ wirtschaftswoche.de Archived 13 February 2013 at archive.today
^ handelsblatt.com
^ "handwerkermarkt.de". Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
^ autonews.com
^ "automotivehalloffame.org". Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2009.