INTERVIEW
Creating the Mercedes stars of tomorrow
Markus Schäfer, head of research & development, spoke to Mark Smyth about a rapidly changing industry
I was supposed to be sat in a room behind a glitzy stand in Geneva, but instead I’m in my study on the phone to the big boss of Mercedes-Benz research & development, Markus Schäfer. I can’t see if his PR minders are giving him that look that says “don’t answer that, but if you do, make sure it’s the proper corporate line”. I can’t read his body language to decide whether to change the direction of the conversation. It’s not been the usual Geneva motor show.
But it’s also not the usual conversations, at least not in a traditional sense. It’s clear that while it might be 94 years since the first official Mercedes-Benz vehicles appeared, in some ways Merc is starting again. Yes, it has decades of experience making cars, but as Schäfer points out, after years of what he calls stellar performance, the company is “going into a new period with new architectures”...
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