[11] Bmw Investor Relations Making Today Headline

Von Kuenheim made other changes, too. He ignored Germany's rigid seniority system and put young men in top jobs at BMW -- like Bob Lutz, hired away from Opel to replace Hahnemann as head of sales. Von Kuenheim believed in manufacturing flexibility as the way to remain small but independent. And he was an early advocate of the value of electronics in cars.

Von Kuenheim also changed the way automakers dealt with suppliers, insisting that they innovate. In return, he promised to protect their work. BMW would not take the best of Bosch or Siemens or Zahnradfabrik and bid out their technology to others that could produce it more cheaply. The strategy won the loyalty of suppliers.

While BMW built up engineering prowess, it needed to find a better way to go to market.

"It was a company guided and controlled by engineers," von Kuenheim said. "We had excellent technical content. We had the best chassis, best engine, best handling. But we had no sales organization."

Von Kuenheim and Lutz concluded in 1972 that the company needed to take control of its national importers around the world. Because of Hahnemann's network of private distributors, von Kuenheim said, BMW barely broke even on cars sold outside its home market.

"It was a very important decision to take control of the importers," von Kuenheim said. "They all were millionaires, and we said we could use that money. I had very good help from a man named Bob Lutz. That was one of the secrets."

BMW also needed to break out of its home region.

"We were very provincial," von Kuenheim said. "Not a European company, not even a German company. It was a Bavarian company."

Of course, BMW is still a Bavarian company at heart. And for nearly a half-century, von Kuenheim, now 87, has been a towering figure in the region.

Ralph Robins, who ran the aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce PLC, said: "I remember walking into a restaurant with him in Munich, and the whole restaurant fell silent."

A former lieutenant once told me: "He was the most demanding guy I ever met in every respect. He always asked for intelligent solutions. If I complained that "Daimler has a lot of money to do things,' he would say, "if you come up with an intelligent solution, you will have a lot of money as well.'"