Daimler has announced that Dieter Zetsche will step down from his role as CEO and chairman of the management board next year. He will be replaced by Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development boss Ola Källenius, who will also assume the associated role as head of Mercedes-Benz Cars.
Zetsche will not be leaving the company – he’s to be elected as member of the supervisory board, where he will take over the role as chairman from Manfred Bischoff. This is a case of succession preparation being done at an early stage, because that transition will only take place in 2021, following a two-year cooling-off period.
Källenius (pix below) was appointed to the board of management of Daimler AG in 2015, and since January last year has been the head of Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development. Zetsche has been a member of the board of management since 1998 and head of the Mercedes-Benz Cars division since 2005. He also served as chairman of the board in the former DaimlerChrysler setup.
“In various positions at Daimler, Ola Källenius has earned not only my respect, but also the recognition of his colleagues in very diverse areas. At the same time, he contributes a valuable international perspective. I therefore very much welcome the fact that the supervisory board has made this forward-looking personnel decision,” Zetsche said.
The changes next year will also see Markus Schäfer, who is currently heading Production and Supply Chain Management, taking over from Källenius as the boss of Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development.
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Major shareholder, Geely wielding their authority.
Bullshit. Kallenius is a rank and file Mercedes guy hired by the board because he is close to the board which is old school Daimler. Nothing to do with Geely.
He step down because diesel emissions fraud involved BMW, mercedes, Audi… nothing to do geely? Who geely ha
Yaaaawwnn… NEXT!
Auf wiedersehen! Danke und viel glück! Hope u might join Geely team soon.
Proton fanboy must be thinking their Rashid and Azlan have a role in this company.
Nobody does but only you. Stop dreaming.
Step down because not have good term with Geely?
Some says Geely biggest shareholder but no say in Mesidis, yet somehow suddenly the biggest critic of the buyout is now cold storage. If no say and no power, then how come? Hmm… much hmmm….
He wasnt the biggest critic of tbe buyout. It was the Daimler board that was the biggest critic of Geely buying the minority shares, even though they have no board representation. The fact that this new guy is on board shows that the board is wielding their power by putting a ‘hardcore’ Mercedes guy on board.
Geely is all powerful. That is why even Proton and the whole Malaysia has lost control of Proton. Proton is no longer a Malaysian company.
I am glad Geely has taken over Proton caus eit teaches the lazy type to work harder. We need more Li Chunrongs to run other GLCs too plus whipping to shape Putrajaya too
Nobody bother about china made car in other part of the world. Thats the fact. Even volvo cant sell here in Asia and America at all.