Marcus Breitschwerdt
The new boss of the van division.
(Photo: Daimler / Mercedes-Benz)
Munich It usually takes just a minute before Volker Mornhinweg takes off his jacket. Under the open shirt collar glitters a golden necklace, the frizzy hair are frayed back and grinning widely tells the manager of “bestsellers”, growth everywhere and customers who are “happy”.
For nine years, the man with the bright blue eyes has been leading the vans division of Daimler, In May, however, the 59-year-old, who earned his nickname “Man of the Van” with his down-to-earth nature, retires.
His successor will be Marcus Breitschwerdt, who currently manages the distribution of the passenger car division in Europe. The change at the top of Mercedes Benz Vans does not come as a surprise. The operational management of the unit has been de facto for months Daimler-Personal board Wilfried Porth pauses, as Volker Mornhinweg due to illness repeatedly fails.
The Mornhinweg, which is described internally as a “workaholic”, has led Daimler’s van division from one sales record to the next in recent years. Recently it was not quite as dazzling.
Current club events
Tuesday, 02.04.19, 10:00 Berlin: Handelsblatt Annual Conference “Company pension scheme”
Friday, 05.04.19, 09:30 Düsseldorf: Workshop organization design
Tuesday, 09.04.19, 09:00 Düsseldorf: Handelsblatt Annual Conference “Chemistry”
Tuesday, 09.04.19, 19:00 Munich: Club talk with Nicolas Peter
Monday, 06.05.19, 11:00 Berlin: Book presentation “Europe can do better”
Tuesday, 07.05.19, 09:15 Frankfurt am Main: Handelsblatt Annual Meeting “Restructuring”
The operating result of the van segment broke last year by more than 70 percent, to only 312 million euros. The reasons are many. Delivery delays, high upfront costs for new models weighed on earnings as well as expenses in the diesel affair. For example, last year the German Federal Motor Transport Authority (Daimler) condemned the recall of thousands of diesel Vitos,
The allegation: The Stuttgart have built inadmissible defeat devices in their vans. Daimler denies this and has lodged an appeal against the decision, but the costs for the recall remain.
Volker Mornhinweg
The former head of the van division stops.
(Photo: Daimler / Mercedes-Benz)
The new boss Marcus Breitschwerdt gets a lot of work. The opening of a new plant in the US was last unusually bumpy. Many customers in Europe are also afraid of driving bans. In the van sector, the relatively low-consumption diesel engine is currently still very dominant.
However, many craftsmen, parcel services and caterers want to quickly integrate electric cars into their fleets in order to be able to drive easily into the city center in the future as well. Here must Mercedes Benz Vans deliver faster than before.
Broadly speaking, however, the division must above all make itself more profitable again. A return on sales of 2.3 percent at the latest is considered unacceptable at the Stuttgart headquarters – especially as the business is actually buzzing thanks to the online boom. Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche announced in February to develop “comprehensive countermeasures”: “Our aim is to return to our target return corridor of 8 to 10 percent by 2021”.
For 2019, however, Daimler only offers a margin of 5 to 7 percent in its van division. Breitschwerdt, the future divisional director, joined Daimler in the early 1990s as a controller. Although there were stations in marketing, the portfolio strategy and sales, but now he must first remember his abilities as a cost overseer and save the small van business.
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