The Sept. 4 news release announcing Martin Daum’s successor as Chair and CEO of Daimler Truck didn’t precisely say the legendary trucking industry executive was retiring.
This week at the IAA Transportation truck exhibition, Daum definitively answered the question. He’s done at the end of the year.
The Sept. 4 news release announcing Martin Daum’s successor as Chair and CEO of Daimler Truck didn’t precisely say the legendary trucking industry executive was retiring.
This week at the IAA Transportation truck exhibition, Daum definitively answered the question. He’s done at the end of the year.
A family decision
“Look, I am 65-ish. I was really debating with my wife over Christmas last year [whether] I should do another three-year term,” Daum told me following Daimler’s media night on Sunday. “Honestly, we have too many plans.”
Missing out on a recent three-week excursion with some retired Daimler executives helped convince Daum, who turns 65 on Oct. 28, the time had come to leave the company he joined in 1987.
“I’m retiring. And my wife is going to kill me if I tell you that something is coming up next.”
Trucking’s first female CEO
Daum recruited Karin Rådström from Traton Group’s Scania unit in Sweden three and a half years ago to become CEO of Mercedes-Benz Trucks sold primarily in Europe. At 45, she is two decades younger than Daum. She takes over as CEO of Daimler on Oct. 1 but will continue to run the European truck maker until her successor is named.
Rådström becomes the first woman to lead a major truck maker. Jennifer Rumsey was selected as the first female CEO of engine and power distribution provider Cummins Inc. two years ago. Mary Barra broke the glass ceiling in automotive, becoming CEO of General Motors in 2014.
‘Being first is always special’
“Being first is always special,” Daum said. “I hope there comes a time when you [don’t] have to mention that it’s special.”
Daimler Supervisory Board Chairman Joe Kaeser made the ultimate call on Daum’s successor. Daum said he would have been fine had any of his leadership team been chosen.
“Not a single one [of them], including Karin, said, ‘If this guy gets it, I’m out.’ It’s always, ‘We are one team. Hopefully one of us gets it. And Karin got it. So wonderful.”
But for his sudden death from a wasp sting in August 2023, 52-year-old CFO Jochen Goetz joined Rådström at the top of the list to succeed Daum. The 30-year company veteran shared credit with Daum in steering Daimler Truck to independence. His successor, Eva Scherer, 40, became the first female CFO among major truck makers in April.
For her part, Rådström said she is still getting used to the idea of her selection. Despite her focus on the Mercedes-Benz Truck brand, she deftly handled questions about Daimler Truck North America in a roundtable with reporters at the IAA on Monday.
“It’s quite new. I am really humbled,” Rådström said. “I’m proud and I hope I can make a positive difference in that role for the company and for the industry in this very important, historic time we are in. I’m looking forward. But it’s a big job, so give me some time.”
Daum’s legacy: An independent Daimler Truck
If it seemed like it took a long time for Daimler Truck to separate from Daimler AG’s passenger car business to stand on its own, you need to know how long Daum was thinking about it.
“It was in 2001. I was head of strategy for the truck division inside Daimler. At one point, I went to my bosses and said, ‘I have a brilliant idea. We separate trucks and passenger cars. [I] had a vision [for] how that would pan out, and [it would] be really successful for shareholders, for customers, for people, for the company.”
Or maybe not.
Split-up idea initially panned as career suicide
“[My supervisor] looked at my concept and he says, ‘If you want to commit suicide, you just continue,’” Daum recalled with a laugh.
More than a decade later, the idea came up again. Daum teased the idea of Freightliner, which he was running at the time, merging with the Mercedes-Benz passenger car plant in Alabama. It was meant as a joke. But it led to serious discussions about Daimler AG standing up its passenger car and commercial truck units as separate businesses.
Daimler Truck AG began trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in December 2021.
“The pandemic helped,” Daum said. “It was the second quarter in 2020 when we had one or two strategy sessions on the top level and said, ‘What can we do significantly differently? One of the key ones was to split the company.”
Dedication to zero emissions and autonomy
Daum led Daimler Truck North America until 2017. Later, as head of the overall company’s management board, he committed Daimler to selling only zero-emissions powertrains in its major markets by 2039. In 2020, he created a joint venture with rival Volvo Group to defray the cost of fuel cell development. A year earlier, autonomous truck developer Torc Robotics became part of the Daimler fold as an independent subsidiary.
In retirement, Daum will split time between Germany’s Black Forest and Portland, Oregon.
“I have three kids. Two live in the U.S. I have five grandkids. Three live in the U.S. I have one wife. She lives in Germany,” Daum told a small gathering of reporters at the IAA. “We’ll travel, but the core is Germany.”
Is Fuso’s eCanter-based refuse truck bound for Rizon?
In Europe and most global markets, Daimler’s Japan-based medium-duty electric truck brand is sold under the Fuso name. Until 2021, Fuso was a North American brand, too. Now its trucks are sold under the Rizon brand in the U.S. and Canada.
With more than 100 variants, Fuso introduced a Class 4-5 refuse truck at the IAA Transportation show. Though refuse is becoming a crowded space in the U.S., where Paccar’s Peterbilt brand holds a commanding market share, Fuso President Karl Deppen told me the refuse model could very well join a growing lineup of Rizon offerings.
“We’ve seen great interest from customers around the world,” Deppen said following Daimler’s media night before the IAA opened. “All this depends on what the local bodybuilders are capable of. So far, we’ve been quite fortunate to find good partners.”
Briefly noted …
Kodiak has integrated its self-driving technology – no room for a human driver – into a Textron Systems military vehicle intended to keep service members out of harm’s way.
Ree Automotive, developer of a full by-wire system for electric vehicles, has a new global manufacturing partner and $43 million in cash from a direct sale of stock.
Following a 1:50 reverse stock split earlier in September, Hyzon has begun production of its 200-kilowatt single-stack fuel cell for retrofitting into Freightliner Cascadias.
Terawatt will create six truck charging depots along I-10 in the Southwest to support a shipper-carrier coalition that includes AIT Worldwide Logistics, DB Schenker, Maersk, Microsoft and PepsiCo.
Truck Tech Episode No. 83: Designing the Volvo VNL from a clean sheet of paper
That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading and watching. Send your feedback on Truck Tech to Alan Adler at aadler@firecrown.com.