AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)02/21 Report--

On February 20th, Daimler's website announced that it was streamlining the management of its finance, production and development departments to eliminate duplication of management positions between Mercedes-Benz and Daimler.

The adjustments are as follows: Ola Kaellenius, Daimler's chief executive, will succeed Wilfried Porth in charge of Mercedes-Benz's light commercial vehicle business, while Boulter will continue as Daimler's director of human resources. Harald Wilhelm, chief financial officer, will take over as chief financial officer of Mercedes-Benz from April 1, while Frank Lindenberg, chief financial officer of Mercedes-Benz, will leave.

In addition, Marcus Schaefer (Markus Schaefer), a member of the R & D board, will be promoted to chief operating officer of Daimler Group, second only to Kang Linsong. Wolf Dieter Cruz (Wolf-Dieter Kurz), who is currently in charge of product projects, will also serve as Mercedes-Benz's head of product strategy and orientation, reporting directly to Kang Songlin.

Daimler said in an announcement that the above personnel transfers will take effect on April 1 this year. Manfred Bischoff, the current chairman of Daimler's supervisory board, said that the current action is to adapt to tomorrow's global competition, which is also a prerequisite to further simplify the company's organizational structure, the company will better meet the challenges of the future in a highly volatile environment.

The current situation of the Daimler Group in streamlining the organizational structure of the company has a lot to do with it. According to Daimler's financial results, the turnover of Daimler Group was 172.7 billion euros in 2019, up 3% from 167.4 billion euros in 2018, but profit before interest and tax was 4.3 billion euros (about 32.7 billion yuan), down 60.4 percent from the same period last year. Net profit was 2.7 billion euros (about 20.5 billion yuan), down 64.5 percent from the same period last year Net profit attributable to shareholders was 2.4 billion euros (18.3 billion yuan), down 66.7 percent from a year earlier.

Daimler's performance in 2019 was not satisfactory, with the biggest decline in a decade, mainly due to the Takata airbag recall and the "emission gate" incident.

Kang Songlin released three profit forecasts in less than a year as CEO. Last month, Daimler issued its third profit warning for fiscal 2019, with profit before interest and tax falling by about 50 per cent to 5.6 billion euros ($6.2 billion) in 2019 from 11.1 billion euros in the same period in 2018. Daimler said it would cut material and labor costs in 2020 and consider selling assets and putting more money into the auto industry to revive profits in its main business.

It is worth noting that in a series of staff changes, Daimler extended the contract term of Hubertus Troska, a board member in charge of Greater China, until December 31, 2025, the second time Daimler has extended Mr Tang's term.

The extension of Tang Shikai's tenure in Greater China has a lot to do with Daimler's good performance in the Chinese market. In China, Daimler's largest single market in the world, total sales of Mercedes-Benz (including the smart brand) reached 702100 in 2019, an increase of 4% year on year and an all-time high.

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