Joachim Dunkel

HEAD OF PROJECT, 2019 BMW X4

- Gary Witzenburg

Born in the town of Recklinghausen in northwest Germany, Joachim Dunkel earned his software engineering degree from the Technical University of Dortmund and took a job with BMW as an IT engineer in 1984. “It was the best and most exciting offer I got,” he says. “My plan was to stay there for five years, and it is now 33 years.”

He grew up a car enthusiast, though mostly with a rival marque. His parents drove Mercedes-Benzes, and his first contact with BMW was at the driving school he attended to get his German driver’s license. “My first car in the school was a BMW 2002. Then, after getting my license, I changed to a six-cylinder BMW 320—the first-generation 3 Series—and experienced a driver-oriented cockpit for the first time. I had never seen that before, and it was really great.”

Along the way up to this job, Dunkel managed production systems at BMW’s South African plant, then integration of Rover production processes into BMW systems, then electronics R&D, then integration of electronics into production processes, then development of both engine and electric propulsion system electronics. Following that, he led his first full-vehicle program, for (of all things) the ultra-luxury ’18 Rolls-Royce Dawn. Then came the opportunity to lead this ’19 X4 Sports Activity Coupe (SAC) program, HEAD OF PROJECT, 2019 BMW X4 which he saw as “a very exciting challenge.” We sat down with him at its U.S. media launch in South Carolina.

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