Mobbing At Mercedes: Dr. Z Under Fire, Bernhard Back In Play

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

While the world was watching Volvo going to Geely, Germany was playing artillery observer: Daimler’s Zetsche came under a barrage of criticism last weekend. Not because of the graft accusations. That counts as necessary evil, at least if done abroad. Zetsche committed a mortal sin: He’s losing money, again. After losing billions in 2009, Daimler is supposed to turn the corner this year. But it doesn’t look that way.

The profitability of Mercedes “is beyond the pale,” leaked an anonymous member of Daimler’s Supervisory Board to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The supervisor didn’t ask for Dr. Z’s head. Just half a head. Currently, Zetsche is CEO of Daimler AG. At the same time, he heads up the Mercedes brand. “This double responsibility is unacceptable,” grouched the board member. Dr. Z should focus on being the God of Daimler, and should leave mundane matters, such as the managing of Mercedes, to dedicated personnel.

As the topic did spread like wild fire to the Handelszeitung, Die Welt, and Reuters, immediately Wolfgang Bernhard was brought into play. Bernhard was Zetsche’s confidante and hatchet man when both went to Detroit to run Chrysler (“into the ground” as many will say at this point). Back from Detroit, Bernhard was designated as chief of the Mercedes brand. The unions didn’t like a cost cutter. Bernhard had to go, officially because of irreconcilable differences about the Mitsubishi engagement. He left in a huff in 2005 and appeared at Volkswagen as head of the VW brand, including Škoda, Bentley and Bugatti.

At Volkswagen, Bernhard quickly earned the nickname “Terminator.” Management revered him. But again, he didn’t make friends with the powerful unions. When Piech brought in Winterkorn as CEO, and as chief of the Volkswagen brand, Bernhard didn’t accept the demotion as head of production, and left.

He popped up at Cerberus as a “consultant” when Cerberus got its hands on Chrysler. That lasted only a few months. Last year, the Zetsche/Bernhard couple was reunited at Daimler. Bernhard was made head of the truck division, and everybody knew that this was only temporary. Since February this year, Bernhard is back on the board of Daimler, in charge of Purchasing and Production for Mercedes Benz cars. Immediately the wink, wink, nod, nod was: This man is the big boss in waiting.

Officially, Daimler denies all rumors. Manfred Bischoff, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, said: ”From my perspective, this discussion does not exist.” A Daimler spokesman, disturbed during his well-earned weekend, said: “Dieter Zetsche is and remains in charge of both.”

At the Geneva Auto Show, Zetsche already had denied rumors of Bernhard’s rise: “It’s no secret that we worked well together and I’m happy to have him back. But he’s not my crown prince and he’s not my deputy,” Dr. Z. said to Automotive News. “If you want to do him a favor, stop speculating,” Zetsche told journalists. Seems like Germany’s intrepid reporters are in no mood to dole out any favors.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • JSF22 JSF22 on Mar 29, 2010

    Wolfgang Bernhard has NUSSING to do viss zese rumors. He was not even ZAIR.

  • Dr Strangelove Dr Strangelove on Mar 29, 2010

    Does anyone have insight as to what Bernhard actually has accomplished so far? Would he make a good boss for Daimler? Seems to me that everywhere he worked his job got terminated in one way or another before he had a chance to see his agenda through.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
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