Leadership change at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

Manufacturing News, Source : TheManufacturer.com
Published : 28 May 2004 9:05

Tony Gott, chairman and chief executive of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, has resigned unexpectedly, for “personal reasons”, according to parent company BMW Group.

BMW acquired Rolls-Royce in 1998, and has since invested hundreds of millions of pounds to modernise the luxury car maker. Gott, 48, had been in the post since March 2002, managing the £60 million move from Crewe to state-of-the-art facilities in Goodwood, West Sussex, where he has spent almost £600 million developing the new £250,000, 155mph Phantom.

BMW said that the target to sell 1000 Rolls-Royce cars in this, its centenary year, would not be affected. Gott’s replacement is Karl-Heinz Kalbfell, 54, who has been with BMW since 1977 and was most recently senior vice-president of group marketing. Kalbfell already knows Rolls-Royce well. In 1998, after industrial group Vickers sold Rolls-Royce to BMW and Bentley to VW, he was appointed project director for the design and development of the Phantom and preparation of the Goodwood factory. He returned to Germany when Gott became chief executive.

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