The company said the changes were taken to initiate a generational change in the CEO and chairman’s jobs
The end of Reithofer's tenure as CEO, combined with the departure of a key manager for rival Volkswagen, means significant turnover in the executive team at the Munich-based maker of the X5 sport utility and the 3-Series sedan.
Chief production executive Harald Krueger will replace Reithofer. Krueger was project engineer for the plant in Greer in the 1990s.
Volkswagen also added to the shakeup announcing it has hired top BMW executive Herbert Diess.
Diess held the key position of product development — responsible for renewing the model lineup that the company's business depends on. He will take charge of the Volkswagen brand for Wolfsburg-based VW, whose brands also include Audi, Skoda, SEAT and Lamborghini.
BMW is replacing Diess as development head with Klaus Froehlich, who most recently was in charge of small and medium-sized models.
Reithofer has headed BMW since 2006 and has seen it through steady profits, strong margins and expansion of its business in China.