After leaving his school in Ulm, Reitzle continued his education at the Technical University of Munich where he studied mechanical engineering and economics.

[1] Between 1999 and 1 May 2002,[2] Reitzle was the head of Ford's Premier Automotive Group, overseeing the Volvo, Jaguar, and Land Rover marques.

He let it be known that he left Ford when it became clear that he would not have sufficient control of developing new models through to the production process: the cost containing instincts of fellow director Nick Scheele were destined to ensure that the PAG vehicles would not benefit from his uncompromising approach sufficiently to compete on level terms with market leaders such as Lexus and BMW.

[3] He instead quit the car business and became CEO of The Linde Group,[6] at that time a leading manufacturer of Fork-lift trucks and currently the world's largest industrial gas company, joining the board in 2002 and becoming a chairman in 2003.

For example, he and his wife Nina Ruge together with the billionaire investor Michael Pieper have acquired a stake in the biotech company Tomorrowlabs GmbH.