Dr Klaus Draeger

[Ultimate Car Guy]

This early November, BMW's long-standing R&D boss, Prof. Burkhard Goschel will officially retire with Dr Klaus Draeger set to succeed his place.

I don't know what others may think, but after passionately following the auto industry for many many years, i believe that the R&D boss holds one of the most important roles in a company if not as important as the CEO.

This person pretty much makes the decisions that ultimately affects the success/failure of the products the company launches. A perfect example is Dr Wolfgang Reitzle. The guy is brilliant and it showed in BMW products in the late 90s and late 80s.

I'd just like to ask Eni or Scott26 or anyone else in the know; whats Klaus Draeger like as an engineer? where is he going to take BMW cars in the future? is good in chassis dynamics etc?

 

[Imhotep Evil]

Dr Wolfgang Reitzle... so only late 80s and late 90s BMWs were good and succesfull ?!

R&D is indeed important, but no one single person at BMW has the power to make the decisions that ultimately affects the success/failure of the products the company launches.

 

[EnI]

R&D is indeed important, but no one single person at BMW has the power to make the decisions that ultimately affects the success/failure of the products the company launches.

Exactly!

Yet dr. Reitzle had a habit to interfere quite much in final design touches, final technological solutions etc. Today that's not possible since design department is much stronger & independent then in the time of Dr Reitzle when design department was just a branch of R&D department.

Do not forget also Dr. Reitzle is the man behind iDrive. He was the main fan & promoter of central controller & central screen!

OK, back to Dr Dreager ...

Here is his CV:



Dr. Ing. Klaus D r a e g e r

03.09.1956: born in Konstanz, Baden-Württemberg; Germany

1975: Final school-leaving certificate, Alexander-von-Humboldt Gymnasium, Konstanz

1975-1981: Study of Mechanical Engineering at Universität Karlsruhe (TH) Graduated in Engineering (FH)

1982-1985: Scientific employee, Universität Karlsruhe (TH); Ph.D

01.09.1985: Joined BMW AG; Trainee in the Manufacturing section

1987–1991: BMW Plant Munich, Quality Assurance

1991-1993: BMW AG, Materials Management, Head of Purchase Engineering, Drive, Chassis and Motor Sports

1993-1995: BMW AG, Head of Purchasing, Special Models

1996-1999: BMW South Africa, Head of Technical Purchasing

2000-2002: BMW AG, Head of Purchasing, Vehicle Interiors

2002-2004: BMW AG, Head of BMW Automobile Body Development

2004-2006: BMW AG, Director Large Model Series (5er, 6er, 7er, X5, X6 , RFK)

from 01.11.2006: BMW AG, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG Research, Development and Purchasing




According his CV he is a purchasing specialist. There is a trend lately at BMW to promote purchasing specialist to development chiefs (eg. purchasing chief Herr Wilhelm Becker was named Development Director Small Model Series (1er, 2er, 3er, X3, Z4) back in 2000).



In 2002 Dr Draeger was named Head of BMW Automobile Body development (his main task was hybrid alu-steel body by 5er & 6er), and later he was promoted to Director of Large models where he was included in E70 X5, E72 X6, F01/02 7er (incl. Hydrogen 7!!!), F10 5er & RFK (F05?) development.

So, he has a lot of managing experience in purchasing & development.

I'm sure we have nothing to worry.

New leightweight body constructions, new iDrive, ConnectedDrive, DynamicDrive, EfficientDynamics, etc solutions will have even more support.
And do not forget BMW will start to use double wishbone front suspension configuraton in the future on almost all moddels, Herr Krusche said (head of chasis development).

 

[Imhotep Evil]

So good bye McPherson struts ?!

 

[EnI]

So good bye McPherson struts ?!

Somehing like that. E70 X5 is the first recent BMW with double wishbone (partialy of steel, partialy of alu), other new models will follow yet with full alu construction.

 

[Ultimate Car Guy]

Thanks for that EniLab! Your insights are so valuabable.

I guess you're both right in saying that no single person has the ultimate power in determining the success/failure of the car.

I think designers get too much credit for the success of a BMW (or any other car) and i think a lot of the success has to do with the engineers and the development chiefs. The development chiefs should get just as much praise e.g Dr Wolfgang Reitzle, Prof Burkhard Goschel.

After reading that BusinessWeek article on BMW's sublime culture, i hope they keep on attracting the best engineers to design and build the best cars.

Oh yeah, the change to the double-wishbone set-up. I've got a couple of questions; is the change a response to improving the poor ride quality caused after switching to runflats? and how much of an improvement to handling and vehicle dynamics should we expect to gain?

 

[bmer]

Oh yeah, the change to the double-wishbone set-up. I've got a couple of questions; is the change a response to improving the poor ride quality caused after switching to runflats? and how much of an improvement to handling and vehicle dynamics should we expect to gain?

AFAIK double wishbone set-up should be superior to McPherson struts if made properly. The main benefits of McPherson struts are simple structure, low cost and that they allow more width in the engine bay. Other than that they don't offer anything that could challenge double wishbones.

 

[EnI]

Oh yeah, the change to the double-wishbone set-up. I've got a couple of questions; is the change a response to improving the poor ride quality caused after switching to runflats?

Yes. Runflats runs much better with Double-wishbone than with McPherson struts. Ride is more comfortable, there is more control to the wheel. Double-wishbone enables much better kinematic fine settings & optimization to suspension than McPhersons - and that very important when using Runflats. You can't balanced runflat's harshness by fine tuning McPhersons, while double-wihsbone allows such fine tuning.

More complex & more expensive design is a disadvantage (needs more space). And higher center of gravity - which can be lowered by using alu or alu-steel combination.

And how much of an improvement to handling and vehicle dynamics should we expect to gain?

There will be some advantages. Fine settings are possible, so expect not so harsh ride anymore. Also there will be advantages in ride & handling dynamics due this suspension configuration since wheel control is much better than by McPhersons.

 

[Ultimate Car Guy]

I know that the new X5 has the double wishbones, and combined with Adaptive Drive, it strikes a pretty good ride/handling balance. The reviews have been very positive so far.

I hope it also translates just as well if not better in the next 7er and 5er.

 

[Ultimate Car Guy]

A very interesting blog about Dr Draeger and his thoughts on BMWs transmissions:

http://blogs.automobilemag.com/1010981/future-cars/future-plans-at-bmw-with-dr-draeger/index.html

 

[PanterroR]

You know what's funny about his last name? Draeger (Dr[FONT=&quot]äger)

[/FONT]That's the name of alco tester that Croatian police is using....


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