Infiniti Just Raided BMW For A New Top Executive

Infiniti Motors announced this week that Roland Kruger is leaving BMW to be the Japanese luxury brand's new boss.

Prior to joining Infiniti, Kruger served as a senior vice president at BMW Group, where he managed the company's sales operation in Germany. He's a designer by training. Before getting on the management track, he specialized in interiors for Mitsubishi and Daimler.

The news comes two months after former Infiniti president Johan de Nysschen defected to General Motors take over the struggling Cadillac brand.

As Infiniti's president, Kruger's job will be to continue a complete rebranding set in motion by de Nysschen. In 2013, the Hong Kong-based automaker (yes, Infiniti's HQ is actually in China) scrapped its previous naming scheme completely and redesignated all of its cars with the letter "Q" and its SUVs with "QX."

The company is also in the middle of a products refresh, with a new small SUV and small executive sedan on the way.

His appointment caps a year of management turnover at Nissan Group. In 2013, former Nissan North America president Carlos Tavares was headhunted to become CEO of Peugeot Citroen. And last week, former Nissan chief planning officer Andy Palmer was installed as the Aston Martin's new CEO.