Quote Of The Day: Dr Z Rallies The Troops Edition

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

With the luxury market defying sluggish economic conditions, Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche doesn’t want the upstarts at BMW and Audi to slip past it… which they are. Six months through 2011, the Mercedes brand found itself in third place among the German global luxury brands, at 610,531 units. A surging BMW captured 689,861 sales in the half, while Audi took second with 652,970. This, for Zetsche, is an unthinkable state of affairs. In a letter to his employees, excerpted by Automotive News Europe [sub], Zetsche makes it clear that leadership in the luxury space is a Daimler birthright.

Some of our competitors are now growing faster and more profitably than we are. Granted, those are just snapshots in time and should not be overestimated. After all, many of our best new products are yet to come… In the long run we can’t be content to be in a “solid second” or even “third” place: We are Daimler – we should be far ahead of the pack! And if that requires something that we don’t currently have, then we’ll identify and develop it.

Enjoy your summer and refill your tanks. Because in the second half of this year we’re going to continue to play some hard offense!

But does a sense of entitlement actually motivate workers?


Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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 6 comments
  • Threeer Threeer on Aug 02, 2011

    Where do you see the "birthright/entitlement" angle? He's talking to the internal troops, and truth be told...they SHOULD be ahead of the pack! If not, why bother with Mercedes to begin with, if it is standard and run-of-the-mill? Now, had he said, "let's sit on our collective asses, do nothing and anticipate leading the sales race between Munich and Ingolstadt solely because we ARE Daimler" then I could see it...

    • Herb Herb on Aug 02, 2011

      Right. He is simply defining a target ("we should be far ahead of the pack! And if that requires something that we don’t currently have, then we’ll identify and develop it"). Or is there something in the AN article we don't know?

  • Sundowner Sundowner on Aug 02, 2011

    If the teutonic twits would make a stick wagon with a decent motor, they might sell one to me.

  • Herb Herb on Aug 02, 2011

    No problem. They have already made them for decennials (Mercedes C-Class, E-Class, BMW 3, BMW 5 Touring, Volkswagen, Audi, etc.) but they obviously don't sell those cars in the US, because nobody seems to like them there, same with Diesels. Relax. Import one or talk to your favorite local dealer.

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