Mr Rene Gerhard has been appointed to the role of Managing Director of BMW Group Asia, taking over from Mr Lars Nielsen.
Gerhard’s BMW journey began in 2002 in Germany’s retail and wholesale operations before heading to India in 2016 as Director of Sales. By 2019, he was in Australia as Dealer Principal for BMW Sydney and MINI Garage, later becoming Director of Sales & Dealer Development, a stint that helped push BMW to number one in the Australian premium market. Most recently, he led BMW Group Thailand as President & CEO.
“I am extremely excited to welcome Rene Gerhard to Singapore, where he can leverage his extensive global sales experience to lead the diverse and dynamic markets that make up the BMW Group Asia region. Rene’s extensive background includes sales roles in the BMW Group Niederlassung in Frankfurt and Berlin, and as Dealer Principal in Sydney, Australia for BMW and MINI. This experience gives him a deep understanding of dealership and importer operations, making him an asset to the region.”
Ms Ritu Chandy, Senior Vice President, Region Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, BMW Group
Mr Lars Nielsen, BMW Group Asia’s current Managing Director, relocates to Munich to take up the newly created role of Head of Sales Steering & Strategy for Region Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Chandy was quick to credit his run: under Nielsen, BMW secured the number one position in Singapore’s premium market and led the premium segment across the broader Asia region, while also overseeing the start of local production in Vietnam and guiding footprint expansion in Indonesia for both BMW and MINI.
BMW Group Asia is a mosaic of 14 markets, from Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Pacific territories, each with its own regulatory quirks, infrastructure realities and customer expectations.
As BMW likes to remind us, the company pairs long-term thinking with responsible action. The 2024 scoreboard, with over 2.45 million passenger vehicles sold worldwide, supported by a 30+ site production network and 159,104 employees, suggests the base is solid. The opportunity in Asia now is to translate that heft into locally resonant wins, one city at a time.
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