Bentley chairman Wolfgang Dürheimer is to be replaced by Adrian Hallmark, currently strategy director at Jaguar Land Rover, according to a report published in Germany’s Manager Magazin on Friday.
Hallmark to replace Durheimer as Bentley boss
Rumours of an imminent departure of Dürheimer (pictured below) from Bentley have been circulating for some weeks now, with earlier reports suggesting Audi Sport boss Stephan Winkelmann could be in line to take control of the British car maker, which, together with Porsche and Bugatti, forms part of the Volkswagen’s so-called premium car division.
Opinion: How Durheimer helped fuel Bentley's growth
But while Winkelmann appears set to replace Dürheimer as president of Bugatti, Manager Magazin suggests the Volkswagen Group has selected Hallmark to head up Bentley.
Hallmark previously served on the Bentley board in a position responsible for global sales and marketing. He has also acted as executive vice-president for Volkswagen of America and regional director for Volkswagen Asia.
The Volkswagen Group has declined to comment on the speculation linking Hallmark with Bentley.
Officials close to Dürheimer say he has already expressed a desire to step down as Bentley chairman and Bugatti president.
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However.
Maybe Daimler have been greatly affected by the supposed bias of autocar towards JLR and hired him on this basis to guarantee better ratings in the press?
BTW, I am being flippant.
re: mokka. Freelander about twice the size of a mokka, not even the same segment. Super mini SUVs all the rage, but a freelander was never super mini size. So not a direct market challenger. The argument should be "why they didn't drop a size?" but they did with the evoque. Which is a run away success in the more premium segment. And LR is not a pile 'em high oversupplier, they just are not big enough.
Spanner wrote:
Spanner, I am sure you meant to say "VW", as it is they that own Bentley, NOT M-B !!
Spanner, the Freelander was
Spanner, the Freelander was just 8" longer than the Mokka. I've had both cars, and they were very equal.
With the exception
of the strange hiatus in producing a new Defender, I actually think JLR have been doing a pretty good job without my help. But it would be a dream job.
Well, on the plus side, the
Well, on the plus side, the Evoque and Jaguar, but...on the minus side, scrapping the Freelander because they had continually driven it up-market - now look at the success of the Vauxhall Mokka! Huge mistake by JLR. Failure to produce a small 4x4 is unforgiveable, when the Yeti has done so well, too. Competing with themselves by having FOUR models all in the same price bracket. Discovery and Range Rover too similar. Failure to keep the Discovery's brilliant boxy shape, and instead produce an ugly thing. Failure to use their brand in other things. Continually going up-market and up-price. The big money is in more-affordable models. And lastly, the abysmal failure to replace the Defender, when they knew for years that they would scrap the old one. Strategy change at JLR can't come soon enough.
Commiserations to Bentley.
On the evidence of his efforts to date, this is good news for Jaguar Land Rover.Commiserations to Bentley.