Infiniti raids BMW for new boss

Nissan Motor's Infiniti luxury brand, without a president since a Cadillac raid on the corner office in July, purloins BMW brass for to fill the prexy job.

Roland Krüger will move to Infiniti from his job as senior vice president at BMW Group, where' he's been in charge of the important German sales region.

In addition to taking the job as president of Infiniti, he will be a senior vice president of the Nissan Motor, the big Japan parent. Krüger will be based at the company's Hong Kong headquarters and will report to Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO of Nissan Motor.

He replaces Johan de Nysschen, hired away from Audi by Infiniti, then lured to Cadillac this summer.

Krüger is the eighth high-level shift this year, as the brand hustles to stay competitive in the fast-changing luxury landscape, where smaller vehicles now are hot, outselling the mid-size models that have been silk-stocking brands' bread and butter.

Meantime, new mid-size cars have hit the market, further tightening competition among the likes of the Mercedes-Benz E-class and Cadillac CTS.

As well, luxury makers face a growing challenge from non-luxury brands offering luxury-level models, such as Hyundai's Genesis and Equus sedans. What's more, luxury sales are being nipped away by well-appointed models close-enough to luxury to draw unpretentious high-dollar buyers.

For example, half the buyers of Subaru's Outback have annual household incomes more than $100,000, and Subaru buyers have among the highest credit ratings of all new-car buyers, the automaker's data show.