Former GM engineer Frank Weber helped guide development of both the Chevy Volt and its near-twin, the Opel Ampera, shown here.
Frank Weber, the talented engineer who guided the early development of the Chevrolet Volt, has elected to leave Opel and General Motors for a job with BMW.
Weber has been Opel’s product planning chief since the autumn of 2009 but apparently left with little warning — and Opel was none too pleased as it issued a terse statement saying he had departed to pursue other opportunities – the language often used when someone is sacked or leaves in a huff.
Weber, who helped put an engagingly fresh face on the Volt project at a critical time, has apparently signed on for an unspecified position with BMW, which is also in the midst of launching its own electric vehicle program.
(For more on BMW’s new sustainable mobility program, Click Here.)
Weber had worked for GM for 10 years and was put in charge of struggling Opel’s product development, following what was generally agreed to have been a star-turn heading up the Volt product team.
Meanwhile, Opel is in the midst of management upheaval with Friedrich Stracke named chief executive, succeeding Nick Reilly. The changeover had been in the works for some time.
“Opel is on track for a successful future,” Stracke said in a statement following a meeting of the unit’s supervisory board.
Reilly will stay on as president of GM Europe and become supervisory board chairman at Opel. The current board chairman, GM Asset Management president Walter Borst, will remain on the board.
Stracke, who will be in Detroit this week to head up the annual Society of Automotive Engineers meeting in Detroit, is a veteran GM executive, having worked for Opel and its U.S. parent since 1979. He has been in charge GM’s research and development activities, both in Detroit and globally, since 2009.