Photo: smart
When Daimler AG appointed Annette Winkler as the chief executive officer of smart in 2010, the head honcho became the first woman to head a brand within the German automotive group. But eight years on and with no palpable results to her name, Winkler decided to step down from her role.
The German-born Winkler will end her tenure at smart at the end of September 2018 after no less than 23 years with the company. From January 1st, 2019, she will join the supervisory board of Mercedes-Benz South Africa. In her place, the board of directors decided on Katrin Adt. Aged 46, the newcomer has held management positions at Daimler since 1999 and has been VP of human resources since 2014.
“Katrin Adt has years of international experience,” declared Britta Seeger, member of the board of management of Daimler responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars Sales. “With her experience in various management positions in sales and marketing and the companywide management culture initiative Leadership 2020, she will steer smart into a successful future.” Reading between the lines, something had to change considering that smart will go electric-only from 2019 through the EQ sub-brand.
“With my endless passion for smart and the people behind it, this decision was not easy for me,” said Winkler upon the announcement of her departure. “I am all the more pleased that I can now support the handover to a successor."
Daimler’s car division, which includes Mercedes-Benz and smart, sold more than 2.4 million vehicles in 2017. Care to guess how many of those vehicles were gifted with the three-pointed star? Exactly 2,373,527 according to the automaker’s annual report, up by 8 percent compared to 2016. smart was very popular in the People’s Republic of China in 2017, yet the brand sold 136,000 cars on a worldwide level.
To put that number into greater perspective, Ford sells 896,754 examples of the F-Series pickup truck in the same period. Bringing the point closer to home, the C-Class moved 176,915 units in Europe in 2017, and that’s speaking volumes (pun intended) about the uphill battle that smart has to take on if it wants to stay afloat.
“Katrin Adt has years of international experience,” declared Britta Seeger, member of the board of management of Daimler responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars Sales. “With her experience in various management positions in sales and marketing and the companywide management culture initiative Leadership 2020, she will steer smart into a successful future.” Reading between the lines, something had to change considering that smart will go electric-only from 2019 through the EQ sub-brand.
“With my endless passion for smart and the people behind it, this decision was not easy for me,” said Winkler upon the announcement of her departure. “I am all the more pleased that I can now support the handover to a successor."
Daimler’s car division, which includes Mercedes-Benz and smart, sold more than 2.4 million vehicles in 2017. Care to guess how many of those vehicles were gifted with the three-pointed star? Exactly 2,373,527 according to the automaker’s annual report, up by 8 percent compared to 2016. smart was very popular in the People’s Republic of China in 2017, yet the brand sold 136,000 cars on a worldwide level.
To put that number into greater perspective, Ford sells 896,754 examples of the F-Series pickup truck in the same period. Bringing the point closer to home, the C-Class moved 176,915 units in Europe in 2017, and that’s speaking volumes (pun intended) about the uphill battle that smart has to take on if it wants to stay afloat.
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