Ola Källenius
The 50-year-old is a trained businessman, but also a technology freak.
(Photo: imago images / Nordphoto)
Munich If something went wrong Ex-Daimler boss Dieter Zetsche was able to get really loud. However, his successor is not upset. Reacts to even the worst news Ola Källenius calm and controlled, it says in his environment.
But the friendly demeanor of the Mercedes front man who has been in office since May 2019 should not be deceiving: The Swede can be freezing cold. Nobody can afford to make too many mistakes, especially since the manager does not have any real team members.
“If Ola hates something, then she misses her goals,” says a longtime confidant. “There is nothing worse for him.” One can only guess how much Källenius must be worried, again the profit expectations of the capital market Daimler not being able to meet.
According to preliminary business figures, the operating profit of the Stuttgart-based Dax group more than halved last year – from 11.1 to 5.6 billion euros. In addition, the Group’s balance sheet will be burdened with up to 1.5 billion euros in new expenses in the wake of the diesel scandal.
Depreciation as a result of the withdrawal from car sharing from North America and on the flopped platform truck X-Class lead to special effects in the fourth quarter of a total of 600 million euros. The return on sales in the Mercedes core division fell from almost eight to just four percent. In the van division, once a real pearl of earnings, there was even a loss of 2.4 billion euros.
The renovation program launched in November should soon be expanded. Frank Schwope (analyst of the Norddeutsche Landesbank)
“After two profit warnings at the beginning of his term, the new one scares DaimlerChief Ola Källenius is now giving investors catastrophic advance figures for the 2019 financial year, ”complains Frank Schwope. The analyst at Norddeutsche Landesbank is convinced: “The restructuring program launched in November should soon be expanded.”
In fact, it is questionable whether the efficiency measures, announced by Daimler CEO Källenius at the end of last year, will really be enough to put the world’s largest manufacturer of premium cars and commercial vehicles back on the road to success.
Källenius wants to save 1.4 billion euros in personnel, cut more than 10,000 of its 300,000 employees and sort out engines, platforms and individual models in the medium term. But the costs for the ramp-up of new technologies such as electromobility and the constant plugging of new holes in the diesel scandal as well as as a result of incorrect product planning to date have wiped out a large part of his savings efforts, To make matters worse, provisions for pensions have recently skyrocketed by 4.5 billion euros.
“The dry spell for Ola Källenius takes even longer,” says Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, head of the Center Automotive Research. The only good news: The decline in profits in the car division “slowed down” in the final quarter, says Dudenhöffer. On the other hand, the new weakness at the second largest Daimler Trucks group unit is bad. Both the margin and the order intake in the business with heavy trucks has slumped among the Swabians.
In view of the many construction sites, Källenius announced a sharper austerity plan in Las Vegas earlier this year. He is looking for cuts across all areas. “We tackle the company in all of our cost types,” said Källenius. The 50-year-old father of three sons is a trained businessman, but also a technology freak and car guy.
He can look forward to it like a schoolboy if it is possible to regulate the temperature in a Mercedes by voice command or to provide more light in the interior via gesture control. But there is hardly any time for that at the moment. Källenius is challenged too much in another role. He will cut the dividend for shareholders, and will have to demand further concessions from employees. The Daimler boss is currently primarily a savings commissioner.