Former Head of BMW's South African Operations to Take Over As Chief of Rolls-Royce Brand

BERLIN (November 29, 2004; The AP reported that the former head of BMW's South African operations will take over as new chief of the automaker's luxury brand Rolls-Royce, BMW AG said Monday.

Ian Robertson will take over from BMW chief financial officer Stefan Krause, who was acting as the interim head of Rolls-Royce.

BMW announced last month that Rolls-Royce head Karl-Heinz Kalbfell was resigning. He is set to take over leadership of Fiat SpA's Alfa Romeo brand on Jan. 1.

BMW has been struggling to meet its sales targets for the superluxury Rolls-Royce brand. By the end of October, Munich-based BMW had sold just 556 Rolls-Royce cars, well short of the pace needed to reach its goal of 1,000 by the end of the year.

Kalbfell's predecessor, Tony Gott, resigned for personal reasons in May.