Zetsche Retires as Daimler’s CEO

Dieter Zetsche formally stepped down today as CEO at Daimler AG after a decade of shepherding the company to global leadership in luxury vehicle sales.

His successor, Sweden-born Ola Kaellenius, is the first non-German executive to head the company. Kaellenius formerly headed Mercedes-Benz sales and marketing, and was named head of group research and Mercedes car development in 2016.

Zetsche became CEO in 2006 by succeeding Juergen Schrempp, who had engineered Daimler’s troubled acquisition of Chrysler Corp. Zetsche led the U.S. arm of DaimlerChrysler, building a reputation as a friendly face for the German owners.

As CEO, he broke up Schrempp’s so-called “merger of equals” by selling Chrysler to private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP and refocusing Daimler on its own challenges.

Zetsche had inherited a company whose Mercedes-Benz unit was saddled with a relatively thin range of aging and conservatively designed vehicles. Zetsche led a successful drive to fix both issues by adopting a more dramatic exterior style and adding new models, notably crossover vehicles and compact entry-level cars.