Biography | Ola Källenius — The Move from Sales to Research and Development

People treat a car-company chief as someone who always sat in the development chair.

Källenius arrived there from sales.

On 16 February 2016 the Supervisory Board of Daimler AG appointed him to the Board of Management for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development, effective 1 January 2017.

He succeeded Thomas Weber, who left when his contract ended on 31 December 2016.

Källenius had sat on the Board since 1 January 2015, first for Mercedes-Benz Cars Marketing and Sales.

The Mercedes-Benz Museum at Mercedesstraße 100 is separate from Daimler's corporate offices and the Untertürkheim works.

A museum photograph provides context about the company; it does not document the location of this appointment.

A finance graduate who had already run AMG, the Brixworth engine shop and Tuscaloosa now held the technical brief that later made him the successor to Dieter Zetsche.

The appointment was made in Stuttgart. The museum should not be identified as the meeting venue.

Source: [company interview about the development role](https://www.automotiveworld.com/news/daimler-interview-ola-kallenius-least-one-electrified-alternative-every-model-series/).

Photo: Mercedes-Benz Museum at night, pjt56, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.