(Yicai) Oct. 19 -- The Chinese arm of German carmaker BMW has appointed Sean Green as president and chief executive officer.

Green, who is senior vice president of sales and marketing of BMW Brilliance Automotive, a joint venture of BMW and Brilliance China Automotive Holdings, will replace Jochen Goller starting on Nov. 1, BMW China said yesterday. He will be responsible for the local business and coordinate BMW's JVs in China, it added.

Steven Shao, president of BMW China Automobile Trading, will step in as SVP of BMW Brilliance, while Goller will return to BMW's headquarters in Munich as director of customers, brands, and sales, according to BMW.

Green joined BMW in 1988 and has held management positions in several markets and departments. In February 2014, he became VP of the Chinese arm of UK automotive marque Mini, which was acquired by BMW in 2000, before taking up his post at BMW Brilliance in March 2018.

In February last year, BMW increased its stake in BMW Brilliance to 75 percent, making it the first joint venture in China with a foreign equity holding in excess of half. The JV deal is set to last through 2040.

Some 603,000 BMW and Mini vehicles were delivered in China in the first nine months of this year. Sales of the carmaker's pure electric cars in the country surged 232 percent to 70,000 from a year earlier, outpacing rivals Audi and Mercedes-Benz.

Editor: Martin Kadiev