Filed under: Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, Mercedes-Benz



Mercedes-Benz is shifting some of their management, resulting in an intriguing game of musical chairs. The principal appointment has Volker Mornhinweg (pictured above left) leaving his position as head of the AMG performance arm to take control of Mercedes-Benz' van division. While seemingly a strange or unfortunate move for Mornhinweg on paper, the van division is very important to the company, and further, Daimler has a history of cycling rising executive stars through different branches in the company in order to give them a good "10,000 foot view" of the firm's operations - exactly the sort of experience that would be useful in one's future board members, say.

Of course, the butterfly effect of an appointment like that within such a hierarchical organization as Daimler AG results in endless ripples in the proverbial pond: Someone has to vacate his position to make room, and another has to take the vacated position, which in turn leaves another position open and so on and so forth. In this case, the announcement includes two other shifts in senior personnel. On the one hand, you have Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, outgoing van guru, who moves up to the management board of Daimler AG and will oversee Mornhinweg's work.

Meanwhile, to succeed Mornhinweg at the head of AMG, Daimler has appointed Ola Kaellenius (pictured above right). With experience in Mercedes' F1 racing program, Swedish-born Kaellenius might be an ideal candidate to take up the reins at Mercedes-Benz AMG GmbH while the division's portfolio shifts away from big engines to smaller and more efficient, but no less powerful units. But wait a second, what was Kaellenius doing until now? He was running the company's plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where Mercedes assembles the M, R and GL-Class crossovers.

So who will take over at MBUSI, as the plant is known? As if to still the waters, Mercedes has yet to announce that appointment. But of course it's only a matter of time. Full details in the press release after the jump. Top tip, Oliver!

[Source: Mercedes-Benz]Continue reading Musikalische Stühlen: Mercedes shifts AMG boss to van division, Tuscaloosa manager to AMG

Musikalische Stühlen: Mercedes shifts AMG boss to van division, Tuscaloosa manager to AMG originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 07:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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03-22-2010 08:58 AM