CES will be trend-setting in various respects (?)
„A spat on the Mercedes board?
Development boss Schäfer is said to be the subject of internal criticism“
Eingetrübtes Verhältnis: Zwischen Mercedes-Chef Ola Källenius und seinem Entwicklungsvorstand Schäfer soll mehr als ein Blatt Papier passen
www.mercedes-fans.de
The Manager Magazin writes: "Quarrels in the realm of the stars. It claims to have learned of internal squabbles in the executive suite of Mercedes-Benz, makes them the top topic and titles the exclusive research as follows: "Why Mercedes development boss Markus Schäfer is coming under fire" (Paywall) According to this report, the house is in a very bad way in the executive suite of the Mercedes-Benz Group, which is always outwardly so unanimously turned towards the electric future and luxury orientation.
Markus Schäfer has a lot on his shoulders: He is supposed to get the electric-only strategy rolling in the form of cars that people want. He's supposed to fix it. He's supposed to develop it. He's supposed to do it. He's the man. This position gives him a lot of influence in the Group. In return, he enjoys the full confidence of CEO Källenius - at least until recently.
As Manager Magazin has learned from insiders, the relationship between the two high-ranking Mercedes managers is apparently beginning to deteriorate. According to the article in Manager Magazin, which is usually well informed, Schäfer is having an increasingly difficult time internally.
Internal criticism of Mercedes development board member: "Blunders on central projects.
Where things should be moving in the direction of the future in the Schaefer division, there are obviously sometimes major snags. For example, in the new production facility "Factory 56", which has been showered with much praise, the premium upper class models EQS and S-Class have been assembled here for 18 months - but Factory 56 is far from excellent premium manufacturing quality. "Already, readjustments and repairs have to be made; there have been recalls. In any case, the next plant will not be built according to the Hall 56 concept," whispers one person involved to Manager Magazin. Oha, of all things Factory 56 is weakening - it was supposed to be the blueprint for the digital car factory of the future. So now its concept for Mercedes-Benz production facilities to be built in the future is being discarded again?
The sales figures for the high-priced e-cars from Mercedes-Benz are not really taking off either. The sales figures for the electric flagship Mercedes EQS, for example, are lagging well behind the original plans. Only 8,400 orders for the EQS were placed by customers around the world in the first half of 2022. The sales plans were much more ambitious. The Mercedes-Benz Group wanted to sell 50,000 units of the EQS worldwide in 2022. The star can probably collect this target for this year, especially since the sales figures for the premium E-models with the star in China, by far the most important Mercedes market, are so disastrously low that Mercedes-Benz has already had to react with considerable price reductions. Ouch! Is the EQS possibly underdeveloped for the market? Mercedes boss Källenius is unlikely to spare his development board this question.
translated with deepl