Mercedes is restructuring its development department

As a part of the reorientation towards e-mobility, Mercedes-Benz has restructured its development department and filled some crucial positions. In the new structure, the previous role of the series manager is to be eliminated.

German Automobilwoche reports on the personnel and structures of the top management without giving further details of sources. The aim is to streamline the management in development to shorten the time to market. To achieve this, Mercedes development boss Markus Schäfer is relying on a new organisation that will do without the classic series managers.

For the EQ models, this role was previously held by Christoph Starzynski. However, according to the report, he took over managing the electric drive integration on 1 January 2022. He had thus also moved up to the board of Mercedes-Benz Drive Systems, a business unit founded in 2020. Starzynski is considered the ‘father of the EQS’ and was also responsible for the EVA2 EV platform.

However, the move to abolish the series managers has not yet been completed. According to Automobilwoche, this will happen in the course of the year – probably at the premiere of the EQS SUV. Mercedes will then transfer series organisation to the areas of integration of the entire vehicle and product strategy. According to the report, Jörg Bartels will be in charge of integrating complete vehicles, while Wolf-Dieter Kurz will be in charge of product strategy.

The battery cell division will also be reorganised. Andreas Friedrich, previously active in the drive business unit Mercedes-Benz Drive Systems, is to head the division and take over responsibility from the development of the battery cell to its industrialisation.

At the beginning of the month, Mercedes-Benz presented the EQXX concept car at the CES in Las Vegas. At that time, the company had already emphasised that they had developed the concept car with an interdisciplinary team within only 18 months.

At Mercedes, it is not only the development department currently in upheaval. On 1 February, Daimler AG’s name will officially be changed to Mercedes-Benz Group AG in the commercial register. In December, the group had completed the spin-off of Daimler Truck AG. With the renaming, the rest of Daimler AG wants to express its focus on the passenger cars and vans of the Mercedes-Benz brand. Daimler Truck also has other brands such as Fuso and Freightliner in its portfolio. It is the fourth renaming within 25 years – from the old name Daimler-Benz AG via DaimlerChrysler and Daimler AG to Mercedes-Benz Group AG.

automobilwoche.de, manager-magazin.de (both in German)