 has announced a new boss, who will replace Dieter Zetsche next year. The company behind Mercedes){kind=link}
German carmaker Daimler (ETR: DAI) has announced a new boss, who will replace Dieter Zetsche next year.
The company behind Mercedes announced the group’s new chief executive on Wednesday. Ola Kaellenius will be the first non-German to run the group.
Chairman of Daimler, Manfred Boschoff, has said that Kaellenius was a “recognised, internationally experienced and successful Daimler executive”.
Kaellenius, 49, is a Swede who will be the first boss of the Mercedes parent company without a mechanical engineering background. Kaellenius studied finance and accounting and international management at the Stockholm School of Economics before joining the group in 1993.
The new chief executive has introduced Silicon Valley management techniques at the German company including the encouragement of an experimental approach to developing new products.
Zetsche will step down from the role following the annual meeting in December 2019. He will look to becoming chairman of the supervisory board in 2021, which will need to be approved by shareholders.
“With Dieter Zetsche’s intended appointment as Chairman of the Supervisory Board, we are ensuring continuity for the sustained success of Daimler AG. In Ola Kaellenius, we are appointing a recognized, internationally experienced and successful Daimler executive,” said the group’s current chairman in a statement.
Daimler is focusing on driverless cars and hopes to launch a fleet of driverless taxis in California by the second half of 2019.
Last year, a partnership between Daimler and Uber was announced but Uber scaled back its driverless car programme following the fatal accident earlier this year.
Shares in the group were down one percent at €54.19 in Frankfurt on Wednesday following the announcement. The stock has dropped from above €70 a year ago.