STEFANIE WURST

In two years, the Mini boss has ushered in a bold new generation of models, revived its brand image and given the BMW Group's oldest factory a new electric future. She tells Mark Tisshaw how

- Mark Tisshaw

Few guardianships of brands have been as successful as that of Mini under BMW. We say guardianship because it is so much more than ownership, given Mini's unique place in British culture, the wealth of personal stories involving its cars and, as a result, the emotional investment that people place in the brand and its development.

The person tasked with directing this guardianship recently is Stefanie Wurst, who took over as head of the Mini brand in early 2022, having previously led the BMW Group in the Netherlands.

She joined at a time when the marque was heading towards something of an identity crisis. In the words of BMW board member Jochen Goller, Mini had become "a little bit too generic". The standard hatchback's proportions looked bloated and the brand was portraying itself with a more serious tone. Its iconic Oxford plant was also in need of investment if it was to be able to go fully electric.

Wurst, our Outstanding Leader for 2024, has tackled all of these in short order and achieved a remarkable amount at the brand in a very brief space of time.

The new Cooper, Aceman and Countryman models - largely developed before her arrival but launched under her leadership - sit much more comfortably together in size and shape than any previous Mini range and the Cooper is far more compact-looking than its predecessor.

Wurst has secured the future of the Oxford site: a £600 million investment from BMW means it will go fully electric. She says she's had 40-year Oxford veterans tell her the employee meetings she's regularly hosted there are the best they have ever seen. Simply, she gets the brand, its people, the cars and what it needs to succeed.