In 1987, Norbert Reithofer joined Bavarian Motor Works, or BMW, as Chief of Maintenance Planning. Nevertheless, as Norbert Reithofer was a good student and a sincere worker in BMW, his improvement was fast. Within a couple of years, that is in 1989, Norbert Reithofer became the Director of Controlling Technologies, and after two more in 1991, reached the directorship of the Body-in-White production division of the BMW firm.
In 1994, Norbert Reithofer was selected as the Technical Director of BMW in BMW's South African operations. In 1997, Norbert Reithofer became the president of BMW's manufacturing corporation in South Carolina in 1997. From 2000 to 2006, Norbert Reithofer worked as the Director of Production of BMW from 2000 to 2006. Norbert Reithofer was also a member of the Management Board of BMW since 2000.
From 1997-2000, Norbert Reithofer was the head of BMW's South Carolina factory, and Helmut Panke was the US Chief of BMW. Later, Helmut Panke became the CEO of BMW, and this was a good opportunity for Norbert Reithofer. Also, Norbert Reithofer knew Mr. Joachim Milberg in his school, who was the CEO of BMW before Helmut Panke, who was the CEO before the present CEO of BMW Norbert Reithofer .
Norbert Reithofer's career at BMW led the company to greater success with greater networking and factory flexibility. In 2002, Norbert Reithofer cut half the production duration of the 3-Series BMW, from 6 months to 3 months.
Norbert Reithofer's plans to expand BMW to emerging markets also paid dividends. In January 2010, Norbert Reithofer announced that BMW sold nearly 20,000 cars in China in January with a rise of more than 122 percent on the sell of December 2009. Norbert Reithofer, present CEO of BMW, has also said in the press conference that he was eyeing a double-digit percentage market growth by the end of 2010. Norbert Reithofer also informed elsewhere that BMW India sales mostly depend on the 3-Series