BERLIN, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Dieter Zetsche will step down from his dual role as chairman of the board of management (CEO) of Daimler AG and as head of its flagship Mercedes-Benz brand in 2019, the German car manufacturer announced on Wednesday.
Rather than leaving the company altogether, of which the management board he first joined in 1998, however, the Daimler supervisory board will propose for Zetsche to replace Manfred Bischoff as its chairman. The move is scheduled to be finalized at the next annual shareholders meeting in May.
According to a company statement, the supervisory board has appointed Ola Kaellenius as Zetsche's successor in his two positions on the management board and at Mercedes-Benz.
Michael Brecht, the chairman of the general works council at Daimler and deputy chairman of its supervisory board, welcomed the leadership reshuffle. He argued that a younger chairman would give the management board "new impetus" and promised to "continue to support the transformation (of Daimler) into a mobility company" in "trusting cooperation" with Zetsche as supervisory board chairman.
Daimler has recently encountered technical and commercial difficulties surrounding the introduction of a new regime for diesel exhaust systems testing in the European Union (EU) in September, forcing it to issue a 2018 profit warning to investors. The company has more than 289,000 employees worldwide and is publicly-listed on the DAX stock exchange in Frankfurt. Its gross revenue in 2017 was 164.3 billion euros (193.2 billion U.S. dollars).
