Daimler founds Mercedes Benz Drive Systems

Mercedes-Benz is placing all drive competencies throughout the Group in the new unit Mercedes-Benz Drive Systems within the company. The new unit should act internally as a supplier for drive systems and speed up the transition to e-mobility.

Above all, the automaker is hoping for synergy effects – and not only in view of the Group’s billion-euro loss in the second quarter. Mercedes-Benz Drive Systems is to unite all trades from the areas of development, production and related areas and cross-divisional functions such as quality management, planning and purchasing under one roof. As an internal systems provider, it will be responsible for engines and transmissions, batteries and electric drives, as well as the related hardware and software issues.

Markus Schäfer, who is responsible for research and development on the Board of Management of the Daimler Group and for the operating business at Mercedes-Benz Cars, intends to use the new organisation to “further develop drive systems, plants and development areas in a future-oriented and competitive manner”. In the announcement, Schäfer said, “I am convinced that this focus will support us in our ambitious goal of being able to offer our customers a complete CO2-free product range in under 20 years.”

Mercedes-Benz Drive Systems is headed by Frank Deiß, who also heads Powertrain Production and the site in Untertürkheim, Germany. The Executive Board, which is chaired by Deiß, also includes Torsten Eder and Andreas Friedrich. Eder will head Powertrain development, while Friedrich will become head of eDrive development from 1 August where he succeeds Jochen Hermann who has moved to AMG.

While Deiß will report directly to Schäfer, the new unit’s structure is supposed to link it directly to cross-sectional areas such as logistics, quality management and production planning. “In this way, methods, standards and processes will be synchronised even more closely between the body and powertrain plants,” hopes Daimler.

daimler.com (drive systems), daimler.com (Q2), daimler.com (Hermann in German)