Exclusive: Mercedes-Benz India CEO Eberhard Kern to move to Europe in a new role

After a near-three-year stint, Eberhard Kern, managing director and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India, will shift to Europe to take charge of another Mercedes-Benz subsidiary. He will move to Belgium to take up the role of president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Belgium Luxembourg from October 1, 2015. Kern will succeed Mark De Haes, who became president and CEO of Daimler Middle East & Levant (DMEL) in Dubai since 1 June 2015.

It is learnt that Kern's successor will be Roland Folger, the current president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Malaysia. Like Kern, Folger is also steering a good performance for Mercedes-Benz in Malaysia. The brand posted an all-time high sales record during the first half of 2015 by selling 5,163 units. That's a 53 percent growth over 3,366 units during the same period in 2014.

Prior to his India stint, Kern had a two-year stint at Mercedes-Benz Taiwan, which was a promotion after his tenure at Russia as the head of marketing and sales. 

Germany-born Eberhard Kern (51) started his career at Daimler-Benz AG in 1982. After holding various positions in the controlling departments, sales and marketing with German dealers, he became centre manager and sales director at Mercedes-Benz Ulm / Gmuend, Germany.

"We are delighted to welcome Eberhard Kern within our European team. He has extensive experience both in retail and wholesale at Mercedes-Benz," said Marcus Breitschwerdt, head of Region Europe Mercedes-Benz Cars.

As managing director and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India, Eberhard Kern was responsible for the company’s ‘15 in 2015’ strategy. This aggressive product offensive is to launch 15 new models in 2015, the S500 Coupe, AMG S63 Coupe and AMG G63 – which were launched yesterday – being the latest ones.

Within two-and-a-half years of his tenure, Kern has seen considerable increase of the Mercedes-Benz brand in India. He oversaw the 20^th anniversary of the German carmaker in India and also posted the best-ever Q2, H1 sales in the country this year. Kern also managed to achieve a significant increase in production capacity and an extension of the dealer network and the Indian portfolio. 

In 2014, Mercedes-Benz India sold, for the first time, more than 10,000 units. Furthermore in 2015, Mercedes-Benz globally sold 898,425 vehicles, recording the highest half-year sales figures in the company’s history.

Marcus Breitschwerdt added: "His contribution and commitment have played a crucial role in our success in India. This is the right formula to continue the Mercedes-Benz Belgium Luxembourg growth strategy, but also to achieve our goal of becoming number one in the premium car segment in Europe. "