Felix Bräutigam is one of the most prominent strategists in the European automotive industry.
As a former member of the board of Jaguar Land Rover (Chief Commercial Officer) and former CEO Europe of Porsche AG (Vice President Europe), he can look back on an impressive international career in which he played a key role in shaping the transformation of traditional luxury brands.
He began his career at General Motors before spending more than two decades at Porsche, where his roles included Managing Director of Porsche France and Head of Marketing Communications. Bräutigam is considered an expert in combining seemingly contradictory concepts such as brand strength and strict profitability. Today, the business graduate and MBA shares his knowledge as a sought-after keynote speaker on topics such as ‘modern luxury,’ digital transformation and sustainable business models.
Interview with Felix Bräutigam
1. What are the core subjects of your keynote speeches?
In my lectures, I talk about the stories of:
- Porsche Turnaround & Transformation: from loss-making niche player to profitable luxury brand
- Jaguar Land Rover Turnaround & Transformation: from volume-driven premium to customer-pull luxury
- Brand Building Porsche, Jaguar, Range Rover, Land Rover
- Family Conglomerates (Porsche, Piech, Tata)
- Crisis Stories (Internet Bubble, Financial Crisis, European Debt Crisis, China Market Crash, Covid.
as well as about:
- Transformation & Change Mgt
- Turnaround
- Strategy
- Trends, esp. Consumer, Digitalisation, Mobility
- Leadership
- Culture change, also cross-cultural and international
- Internationalisation
- China, Europe, US Triade
- Profit Optimization
- Brand building and management
- Customer Obsession: C. Journey, Experience
- Digitalisation
- Process optimisation
- Digitalisierung
- Product Innovation and Development
- Sustainability
- Corporate governance
2. Which audiance or which branch do you reach with your speech?
I reach many industries, mainly audiences from:
- Automotive
- Mobility
- Luxury
- Consumer Goods esp. Electronics
- Media, Agency and Retail
3. Are you a PREMIUM SPEAKER? Where do you get your insights from?
From my rich, sometimes challenging leadership experiences, and lifelong learning.
I joined Porsche when it was a loss-making takeover candidate. Fortunately.
That meant I had the opportunity to contribute one of the most remarkable turnarounds in business. From brand management, internationalisation to corporate governance, my journey culminated in serving as unit CEO, at the heart of a company that transformed from crisis into outstanding profitability and brand strength.
I then moved on the Executive Board and various Joint Venture Boards of Jaguar Land Rover, leading a profit- and brand-driven transformation on a global scale.
Today, I advise supervisory boards and private equity across industries on strategy, transformation, and value creation.
My leadership mantra was forged in transformation under pressure: Sustainable success comes from uniting supposed contradictions as Visionary strategy AND precise execution. Brand power AND rigorous profit discipline. Transformational leadership AND the courage to make tough calls.
I am relentlessly curious and committed to one question:
How can we create more value. Value for the company, the brand, and – above all – the customer.
4. What will be in the future? Does «time» play an important role in your work?
Oh yes, leadership is above all about anticipating the future.
It means identifying what will truly matter to your target groups in the future, defining how your brand, offering and organization need to evolve, and translating that ambition into a clear strategic direction.
But ambition alone is not enough. Not nearly. Leadership requires designing the transformation required to get there — and then executing with precision while leading people through change.
In short: define your future, design the path, and deliver it.
5. Tell us your life motto? What do you want to give your listeners to take with them?
“Not the fastest win. Not the biggest win. It’s the best, who win.”