Dieter Zetsche | |
|---|---|
 Zetsche in 2013 | |
| Born | (1953-05-05)5 May 1953 (age 72) Istanbul, Turkey |
| Other names | Dr. Z (Doctor Zee) |
| Alma mater | University of Karlsruhe Paderborn University |
| Occupation | Chairman ofTUI AG |
| Predecessor | Jürgen E. Schrempp |
| Successor | Ola Källenius |
Dieter Zetsche (German pronunciation:[ˌdiːtɐˈtsɛtʃə]; born 5 May 1953) is a German engineer and business executive. He serves as the chairman ofTUI AG. Zetsche was the chairman of theboard of management atDaimler AG and the head ofMercedes-Benz until 22 May 2019, a position he held since 2006. Additionally, he had been a member of Daimler's board since 1998.
Zetsche was born in Turkey while his father, Herbert Zetsche, a civil engineer, was temporarily there for a dam construction project. The family returned to Germany in 1956. He attended school inOberursel (nearFrankfurt am Main) and studiedelectrical engineering from 1971 to 1976 at theUniversity of Karlsruhe; he graduated as an engineer. He completed his doctorate in engineering in 1982 atPaderborn University.
Zetsche joined the research department ofDaimler-Benz in 1976, and became assistant development manager at the Vehicles business unit in 1981. He became a member of Daimler Chrysler's board of management in 1998 and was the president and CEO of Chrysler Group from mid-2000 to 31 December 2005, where he was credited with a turnaround of DCX's American operations. Since 1 January 2006, he succeededJürgen Schrempp as chairman of DaimlerChrysler (now Daimler AG), being succeeded in the position of Chrysler Group CEO byThomas W. LaSorda.
Zetsche was the main influence behind the demerger of Daimler andChrysler in 2007, which ended in the newly formedDaimler AG. Following profit warnings in 2012 and 2013, weak sales in China and tensions with Daimler's powerful labour representatives, his contract was renewed for only three years instead of the expected five.[1] He received €14.4 million in pay and bonuses in 2014, making him the second-highest paid employee at a listed German company.[1] After a record year for car sales and revenue in 2015, Zetsche's contract was extended to 2019.[2]
Zetsche is credited with bringing significant core changes to Mercedes-Benz, in an effort to turn around a decade-long downward spiral in product quality and customer satisfaction. He was named inTime magazine's 2006 list of 100 most influential people. On the invitation of theGreen Party’s leadership, Zetsche was invited to address the 2016 party conference.[3]
In September 2018, it was announced that Zetsche will step down as the company's CEO in May 2019, in compliance of a two-year-long hiatus regulatory rule, before becoming chairman of Daimler's supervisory board in 2021,[4] succeedingManfred Bischoff.[5]
On 30 June 2006 Chrysler Group announced the Employee Pricing Plus program, which featured Dieter Zetsche asDr. Z (DoctorZee[6]), the DaimlerChrysler spokesman for a series of US and Canadiantelevision commercials,[7][8] also animated in cartoon format on the company's Ask Dr. Z website, which began on 1 July.
The "Ask Dr. Z" campaign included television, radio, print, online, in-dealership and customer relationship marketing media components and aggressive marketing tactics (mobile billboards, aerial banners, street teams), as well as targeting the NASCAR fan community. In the "Ask Dr. Z"ad campaign he provides answers to customers' questions and exits by sayingAuf Wiedersehen (German for "goodbye" or "see you again").
The ad campaign emphasized the consumer benefits of combined American and German engineering and design. One commercial included Zetsche riding in aJeep Liberty while crossing a pile of logs; another showed him in the trunk of aDodge Caravan minivan, heading a soccer ball; and the last showed him at the wheel of aChrysler Pacifica during acrash test, then emerging from the wreckage unscathed.[9][10]
The campaign was criticized for having the wrong guy for doing funny ads.[11] CNW Marketing Research poll showed most people thought Dr. Z was a fictional character, did not notice the employee discount offer in the ads and radio commercial listeners had difficulty understanding his German accent.[9][12] DaimlerChrysler hurriedly withdrew the Dr. Z campaign three months later, due to a significant loss in market share. However, some of the Dr. Z ads were still seen on Canadian television. In later broadcasts, the tagline in Dr. Z TV ads was changed to "See the best in German and North American design in your Dodge and Chrysler dealer."
As a response to shrinking sales, its employee pricing plus program was extended through the end of August and three new TV ads, which did not feature Dr. Z, were added to the August campaign.[13]
In the autumn of 2011, Zetsche was investigated for theinvoluntary manslaughter of a 27-year-old engineer who died in an accident caused by an intern on one of the firm's test tracks. The newspaperStuttgarter Zeitung reported earlier that the parents of the engineer felt the company should not have put the intern behind the wheel of a fast car on a test track. However, it was generally agreed that the public prosecutors were over-reaching their prosecutorial authority in holding Zetsche responsible, as he was not responsible in any way for regulating the limits of interns' activities while at the company.[14]
In February 2018, before the announcement of his departure from Daimler, in the annual general meeting held by tourism companyTUI AG, Zetsche was elected as a member of the supervisory board.[15] In May, he was elected chairman of TUI’s Supervisory Board.[16]
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