In the "Know Your Partners" vein, a report in tomorrow's (Friday) International Herald Tribune:

FRANKFURT -- The luxury automaker BMW on Thursday chose its head of production, Norbert Reithofer, to succeed Helmut Panke, the chief executive who had directed the company's successful expansion into the United States while driving it to ever-higher profits.

Panke, who has reached the mandatory BMW retirement age of 60, will hand over the leadership to Reithofer, 50, on Sept. 1, BMW, formally Bayerische Motoren Werke, said.

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