Preparing to take the wheel at Daimler
Mark Smyth spoke with Ola Kallenius, the next chairman of the leading car maker
Ola Källenius is 49 and Swedish. Without context, this is inconsequential, but he has just been announced as the successor to Dieter Zetsche, the chairman of Daimler. Zetsche is older, and he is German. Many would expect Kallenius to be the boss of Volvo, but he is going to be the big boss of Daimler, including Mercedes-Benz. And he is not German. He is currently a member of the board of management of Daimler though, responsible for group research and Mercedes-Benz development. He has a great deal on his plate, not least of all becoming the first non-German chairman of the massive Daimler Group. Sitting down with Källenius, it was clear he is not ready to discuss his new appointment yet. "This is, of course, a very exciting and interesting challenge, but something to talk about next year, so I’m focusing for the next nine months on research and development, but we’ll get back to it next year." First he has to deal with the issue of further reducing emissions after the EU voted to im...
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