New Mercedes-Benz USA boss Dietmar Exler.
With sales lagging an otherwise robust luxury market, Mercedes-Benz is replacing the head of its U.S. operations.
Steve Cannon, who oversaw the subsidiary’s move from New Jersey to Georgia this past year, will be leaving the company next month. The former U.S. military officer will be replaced by Austrian native Dietmar Exler.
While Mercedes didn’t provide any reason for Cannon’s departure, the maker has been losing momentum in recent months, a time when the U.S. luxury market normally heats up. The German maker has been battling against rivals BMW and Japan’s Lexus for segment leadership.
“I would like to thank Steve for his leadership and contributions to our success story in the U.S., and wish him all the best in the future,” said Ola Kaellenius, the Daimler AG board member overseeing Mercedes.
But Kaellenius appeared to hint that things weren’t going as well as Mercedes might have liked, noting that “Dietmar’s appointment is central to reinforcing our strategy and our standards around the world, and will continue to strengthen the ties and collaboration within our marketing & sales network.”
Former MBUSA CEO Cannon with actor John Hamm at the debut of the Mercedes S63 AMG Coupe.
(Click Here to check out the new Mercedes-Benz SLC roadster.)
Cannon was named CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA shortly after the unexpected ouster of Ernst Lieb in November 2011. Though well liked and credited with driving a significant upturn in sales, Lieb was accused of violating corporate ethics policies and summarily dismissed.
Cannon initially won kudos for maintaining Mercedes’ momentum. He had plenty to work with, the German maker launching an unprecedented array of new products, including the critical new entry-luxury models, the CLA and GLA.
(Buying a luxury car? The holidays often see a surge in demand. Click Here for the story.)
But Cannon may wind up being best remembered for overseeing the move of the U.S. sales subsidiary from Northern New Jersey to a new campus in Atlanta, Georgia. It was a challenging move and the maker lost a sizable share of its 1,500 American employees. But insiders say it didn’t experience the sort of internal turmoil that often accompanies a major corporate move.
Once in Atlanta, Mercedes moved fast to put its stamp on the new home town, signed a mega-million-dollar deal for naming rights on the new Atlanta Falcons football stadium. Mercedes continues to be the title sponsor for the Superdome stadium in New Orleans.
But what may have sealed Cannon’s fate was the declining pace of Mercedes sales in recent months. It was down 10.2% in November while rival BMW was up 1.2%. For the first 11 months of 2015, Mercedes was still up 4.2%, BMW gaining 4.9% during the same period.
Already based in Atlanta, Exler earned a law degree at Johannes Kepler University in Linz, then moving to the U.S. to study at the University of Chicago.
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Paul,
MB might be spinning his departure to the auto press as a “removal”, but in fact he walked away from MB to go to work for Arthur Blank in Atlanta: http://www.atlantafalcons.com/news/blog/article-1/Cannon-Named-CEO-of-AMB-Group/2522f166-f6c8-4749-bbfd-1485ae59c6b9
I really doubt that he could have landed such a job so quickly if indeed MB had sacked him. Don’t you? Don’t swallow the Kool Aid so quickly.
We just learned this, too, and will be posting a new story shortly.
Paul E.
I have been noticing for quite awhile that there are many people driving luxury models that don’t seem to fit the typical luxury consumer profile. I haven’t followed luxury car leasing deals but it could be possible that many lease rates have gotten so low that almost anyone “qualifies” for a luxury car lease. This might explain the strong sales of certain luxury brands?
As an example the young woman in the Caddy with blacked out windows shouting racial epithets at the Harley biker who cut her off in traffic this morning and almost caused a serious accident while the biker yelled similar epithets at the woman, just seemed a bit out of character for the Caddy driver. Not so much for the Harley rider.
Decline has more to do with lackluster products. Their current lineup of models look pedestrian and don’t really have the “wow” factor you see with the other luxury brands. I own two older MB’s and love them but wouldn’t touch one of the current models short of the G wagon. The rest remind me of a Taurus.
Unfortunately many brands have lost any “wow” factor they might have had. I personally would not buy any M-B made in the last ten plus years but taste is totally subjective. I think a lot of real auto designers have retired and we’re stuck with a vision by younger designers that isn’t valued by consumers – for good reason.