Alexander Karajlovic takes over as BMW M VP for development

There’s a changing of the guard happening at BMW M. As Dirk Häcker enters retirement after an eleven-year stint as BMW M’s Head of Development, Alexander Karajkovic takes the reins at the top of the tree as BMW M’s Vice President for Development.

Häcker had been at BMW since 1988, with positions in vehicle development and dynamics from 2001. He was put in charge of development at BMW M from 2015, complementing his official role with driving instructor duties at the BMW Driving Experience. The right sort of character to be shaping BMW’s ultimate driving machines, then.

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In recent years, he was one of the driving forces behind BMW M’s return to offering Touring models, a part of the cohort that seeded the idea during G80 development. He’s also been around to oversee BMW M’s exhuming the CS badge to denote sub-models with more focus – to great effect too, with the original M2 and M5 CSs both resolved to an evo Car of the Year winning standard, a first for BMW M.

He’s set the development strategy of BMW – one that looks directly at the previous generation car and where it left off, to shape where the model must go next. He leaves having been at the forefront of the conceptualisation and development of next-generation electric M cars, the Heart of Joy control systems and the quad-motor testing mules to prove the concepts.

So what about Karajlovic, the man that’s to take his place? He’s been Vice President for the BMW M product line between January 2021 and May 2023, before returning to BMW Group Development for a stint. Karaklovic takes up the role with ‘a proven track record of chassis development know-how’, in BMW M CEO Franc van Meel’s words. We’re excited to see what direction he takes BMW M in, especially in such divisive, tumultuous times for the motor industry.