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BMW’s next CEO could revive an electric car initiative amid assault from EVs like Tesla
BMW CEO Harald Krueger is leaving his post as the German automaker’s chief executive. In an update on Friday, the company announced that Krueger would not be seeking another term in his contract as CEO after it expires next year. A press release from BMW noted that the Supervisory Board will be discussing Krueger’s replacement during a meeting on July 18, though a report from the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, citing people from within the company, claimed that production chief Oliver Zipse is the frontrunner to take over the CEO role.
This would likely translate to a potential revival, or at least an acceleration, of BMW’s push into electric mobility. Krueger has received a fair amount of skepticism over his leadership of BMW over the past years, particularly due to the company losing ground in the luxury segment to its main rival, Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz, according to the Associated Press. BMW has also been left out in the premium electric vehicle market, which is currently being dominated by Silicon Valley-based Tesla and increasingly populated by veteran carmakers like Audi and Jaguar. This was unfortunate, as BMW, at one point, actually had a lead in EVs.
Prior to Krueger’s appointment as CEO, BMW had launched the i3, a curiously-designed battery electric car that was considered as an alternative, or even a competitor, to the Tesla Model S. Under Krueger’s leadership, BMW shifted away from all-electric vehicles, focusing instead on plug-in hybrids, which combine an internal combustion engine and an electric motor. This strategy ultimately resulted in BMW losing the lead that it established with the i3. Today, the company’s next expected EV, the iX3, has been beaten to the market by the Jaguar I-PACE, the Audi-e-tron, and even the Porsche Taycan, which is set for release later this year.
Leading up to Friday’s announcement about Krueger’s departure, BMW insiders have mentioned to German news agency Handelsblatt that the company is considering two candidates who could take over the CEO post: the ambitious Head of Development Klaus Fröhlich and the more tempered Oliver Zipse, who took over BMW’s production department from Krueger back in 2015. Fröhlich is more aggressive than the head of production, but he is also a staunch electric car critic. Back in October, for example, Fröhlich committed to diesel, arguing that ongoing discussions about electromobility are “a little bit irrational.”
Fröhlich’s more recent comments showed an even more dismissive stance on electric cars. In a round table interview in Munich, the BMW executive argued that “there is no customer requests for BEVs.” Doubling down, he added that “If we have a big offer, a big incentive, we could flood Europe and sell a million cars, but Europeans won’t buy these things. Customers in Europe do not buy EVs. We pressed these cars into the market, and they’re not wanted. We can deliver an electrified vehicle to each person, but they will not buy them.”
Zipse, provided that he does get named as CEO, would have a lot of responsibilities on his shoulders. BMW is currently facing headwinds, including a “hiring freeze” and stagnating sales. The company has also issued two profit warnings over the past nine months, suggesting that it will take much effort to turn the automaker around. Rivals Volkswagen and Daimler have already gone ahead with their electric cars such as the ID.3, Audi e-tron, Porsche Taycan, and the Mercedes-Benz EQC. Tesla still holds a notable lead in key metrics such as batteries, efficiency, and charging infrastructure, but with a new captain at the helm, perhaps BMW can start catching up to the Silicon Valley-based electric car maker as well. If there’s anything that Tesla has proven over the years, after all, it is that the demand for well-designed, high-performance electric vehicles is notable, as could be seen in the disruption being caused by the Model 3 in markets such as the United States.
Tesla made a dramatic change to the Online Design Studio to show its plans for Full Self-Driving, a major part of the company’s plans moving forward, as CEO Elon Musk has been extremely clear on the direction moving forward.
With Tesla taking a stand and removing the ability to purchase Full Self-Driving outright next month, it is already taking steps to initiate that with owners and potential buyers.
On Thursday night, the company updated its Online Design Studio to reflect that in a new move that now lists the three purchase options that are currently available: Monthly Subscription, One-Time Purchase, or Add Later:
🚨 Check out the change Tesla made to its Online Design Studio:
It now lists the Monthly Subscription as an option for Full Self-Driving
It also shows the outright purchase option as expiring on February 14 pic.twitter.com/pM6Svmyy8d
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 23, 2026
This change replaces the former option for purchasing Full Self-Driving at the time of purchase, which was a simple and single box to purchase the suite outright. Subscriptions were activated through the vehicle exclusively.
However, with Musk announcing that Tesla would soon remove the outright purchase option, it is clearer than ever that the Subscription plan is where the company is headed.
The removal of the outright purchase option has been a polarizing topic among the Tesla community, especially considering that there are many people who are concerned about potential price increases or have been saving to purchase it for $8,000.
This would bring an end to the ability to pay for it once and never have to pay for it again. With the Subscription strategy, things are definitely going to change, and if people are paying for their cars monthly, it will essentially add $100 per month to their payment, pricing some people out. The price will increase as well, as Musk said on Thursday, as it improves in functionality.
I should also mention that the $99/month for supervised FSD will rise as FSD’s capabilities improve.
The massive value jump is when you can be on your phone or sleeping for the entire ride (unsupervised FSD). https://t.co/YDKhXN3aaG
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 23, 2026
Those skeptics have grown concerned that this will actually lower the take rate of Full Self-Driving. While it is understandable that FSD would increase in price as the capabilities improve, there are arguments for a tiered system that would allow owners to pay for features that they appreciate and can afford, which would help with data accumulation for the company.
Musk’s new compensation package also would require Tesla to have 10 million active FSD subscriptions, but people are not sure if this will move the needle in the correct direction. If Tesla can potentially offer a cheaper alternative that is not quite unsupervised, things could improve in terms of the number of owners who pay for it.
News
Tesla Model S completes first ever FSD Cannonball Run with zero interventions
The coast-to-coast drive marked the first time Tesla’s FSD system completed the iconic, 3,000-mile route end to end with no interventions.
A Tesla Model S has completed the first-ever full Cannonball Run using Full Self-Driving (FSD), traveling from Los Angeles to New York with zero interventions. The coast-to-coast drive marked the first time Tesla’s FSD system completed the iconic, 3,000-mile route end to end, fulfilling a long-discussed benchmark for autonomy.
A full FSD Cannonball Run
As per a report from The Drive, a 2024 Tesla Model S with AI4 and FSD v14.2.2.3 completed the 3,081-mile trip from Redondo Beach in Los Angeles to midtown Manhattan in New York City. The drive was completed by Alex Roy, a former automotive journalist and investor, along with a small team of autonomy experts.
Roy said FSD handled all driving tasks for the entirety of the route, including highway cruising, lane changes, navigation, and adverse weather conditions. The trip took a total of 58 hours and 22 minutes at an average speed of 64 mph, and about 10 hours were spent charging the vehicle. In later comments, Roy noted that he and his team cleaned out the Model S’ cameras during their stops to keep FSD’s performance optimal.
History made
The historic trip was quite impressive, considering that the journey was in the middle of winter. This meant that FSD didn’t just deal with other cars on the road. The vehicle also had to handle extreme cold, snow, ice, slush, and rain.
As per Roy in a post on X, FSD performed so well during the trip that the journey would have been completed faster if the Model S did not have people onboard. “Elon Musk was right. Once an autonomous vehicle is mature, most human input is error. A comedy of human errors added hours and hundreds of miles, but FSD stunned us with its consistent and comfortable behavior,” Roy wrote in a post on X.
Roy’s comments are quite notable as he has previously attempted Cannonball Runs using FSD on December 2024 and February 2025. Neither were zero intervention drives.
Elon Musk
Tesla removes Autopilot as standard, receives criticism online
The move leaves only Traffic Aware Cruise Control as standard equipment on new Tesla orders.
Tesla removed its basic Autopilot package as a standard feature in the United States. The move leaves only Traffic Aware Cruise Control as standard equipment on new Tesla orders, and shifts the company’s strategy towards paid Full Self-Driving subscriptions.
Tesla removes Autopilot
As per observations from the electric vehicle community on social media, Tesla no longer lists Autopilot as standard in its vehicles in the U.S. This suggests that features such as lane-centering and Autosteer have been removed as standard equipment. Previously, most Tesla vehicles came with Autopilot by default, which offers Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and Autosteer.
The change resulted in backlash from some Tesla owners and EV observers, particularly as competing automakers, including mainstream players like Toyota, offer features like lane-centering as standard on many models, including budget vehicles.
That being said, the removal of Autopilot suggests that Tesla is concentrating its autonomy roadmap around FSD subscriptions rather than bundled driver-assistance features. It would be interesting to see how Tesla manages its vehicles’ standard safety features, as it seems out of character for Tesla to make its cars less safe over time.
Musk announces FSD price increases
Following the Autopilot changes, Elon Musk stated on X that Tesla is planning to raise subscription prices for FSD as its capabilities improve. In a post on X, Musk stated that the current $99-per-month price for supervised FSD would increase over time, especially as the system itself becomes more robust.
“I should also mention that the $99/month for supervised FSD will rise as FSD’s capabilities improve. The massive value jump is when you can be on your phone or sleeping for the entire ride (Unsupervised FSD),” Musk wrote.
At the time of his recent post, Tesla still offers FSD as a one-time purchase for $8,000, but Elon Musk has confirmed that this option will be discontinued on February 14, leaving subscriptions as the only way to access the system.
Tesla makes big Full Self-Driving change to reflect future plans
Tesla Model S completes first ever FSD Cannonball Run with zero interventions
