Earlier this week, BMW M announced a new technical boss, Alexander Karajlovic. Karajlovic takes over from a man named Dirk Häcker, a name you might recognize if you look closely. In fact, Häcker has been working at BMW for longer than I’ve been alive, which isn’t something a man in his 30s often gets to say. With an incredible 37-year tenure comes, perhaps inevitably, a portfolio of work that speaks not only for itself, but also for the brand that Häcker helped shape – and to some extent, the man himself.
A legacy of leadership
Over the last decade, Häcker has held various technical leadership positions at BMW M. Since 2015, he has led development at M and played an important role in designing some of the most advanced M vehicles to date. Significantly, his leadership tenure began with momentum. What would be a better fit for a future M-Engineering manager? Even more remarkable is that Häcker is an experienced driver. He was a long-time driving instructor for the BMW Driving Experience – which matches (no pun intended) his reputation within the company as a fantastic driver. That’s perhaps another serendipitous coincidence, because that’s exactly what Franciscus van Meel, CEO of BMW M, expects from a person doing the job that Häcker ended up getting.
Franciscus van Meel is another notable coincidence in Häcker’s career. The two met before van Meel joined BMW in 2014 – sometime in the mid-1990s, when van Meel was at Continental. So – van Meel was on the supplier side. Frank worked at Continental Automotive Services on technologies such as ESC. Van Meel once told us that he and Häcker developed the stability control for the E46 M3. According to people close to them, Häcker would tirelessly push for ever better products. You couldn’t know it at the time, but van Meel brought Häcker to BMW almost 20 years later as head of research and development.
Häcker’s first project in his eleven-year tenure as head of BMW M development was officially the BMW M8. However, when he started, he told us that he wanted to take the F90 M5 – then a new product – to a new level. This was followed by the F90 M5 Competition and the F90 M5 CS. Then we got the F87 M2 Competition and M2 CS, the G81 M3 Touring, the M3/M4 CS and the M4 CSL, as well as many other exciting products that we enjoy today. Even some cooler examples that never came off the assembly line. In general, we suspect that his experience behind the wheel has a lot to do with why all of these cars handle and stop significantly better than a car of this size that actually packs a punch.
We also got the XM, something we always brought up in conversations with him to make fun of.
And we still have to use some of the other things that Häcker has developed. He worked on the aggressive track package for the existing G87 M2. He also developed the upcoming but officially unconfirmed M2 xDrive. Other interesting wait-and-sees include the G84 M3 and ZA0 M3, both of which are on the way but won’t be released for another few years. The same applies to the X3 M and the X4 M electric. So if the M5 CS is any indicator, the best is yet to come.
Dirk Häcker’s lasting influence and personal anecdotes
Häcker’s name has come up quite regularly when looking at our content in recent years. This is logical: his sincere, gentle manner and his fluent command of technical language and its lay equivalents made him the “go-to person” for Horatiu, the editor-in-chief of BMWBLOG. “He never thought a question was silly,” Horatiu told me. “Although I always checked him for weight and death of manuals.” He spoiled Horatiu with personal passion projects, such as the dream BMW M2 CSL.
“He called it the M2 CSL Armageddon Edition because I implemented every single one of my wishes into it, which is not realistically possible.” The fact that he is from Augsburg and an ardent supporter of the local football club was another personal connection for Horatiu, who loves FC Augsburg jerseys. Perhaps even more important is that Häcker always asked for feedback. He asked questions about electric car racing or the cars that brought a smile to Horatiu’s face.
Objectively speaking, almost four decades is a long time to do anything. We’re glad Häcker chose to spend this time at BMW, where it’s clear that his engineering talent and ability to speak passionately about the cars we all care so much about were not wasted. Häcker was instrumental in bringing arguably the best modern M vehicle to market – the M5 CS – and in doing so cemented his legacy with the automaker.
Farewell, Dirk Häcker – thanks for the cars, quotes and everything in between. And here are some of the videos we’ve made together over the years:
