Sauer takes reins at Mercedes
BY HAITHAM RAZAGUI | 28th Aug 2012
A German expatriate, Mr Tempel – who joined MBA from Mercedes-Benz Japan in March 2010 – will reach the official German retirement age of 60 this week.
Mr Sauer is a 33-year Benz veteran who joins MBA from Moscow, where he has been president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Russia since 2004.
MBA senior manager of corporate communications David McCarthy told GoAuto Mr Sauer is excited about the move to Australia as it is one of the few markets where Mercedes-Benz has a strong retail presence and is “fully integrated with trucks, service, finance and cars”.
He said Mr Sauer will take over Mr Tempel’s place on the board of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.
Mr McCarthy said he expects Mr Sauer will have a similar level of community involvement to Mr Tempel, who is also on the council of the German-Australian chamber of industry and commerce and is involved with the non-profit Committee for Melbourne.
Mr Sauer graduated from the Daimler-Benz economic academy in 1983 and went on to spend seven years as a Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle salesman at various dealerships across Germany.
He then spent four years as marketing and communication manager in the group’s sales organisation before spending two years heading the truck sales department of a dealer in Duisburg, near Dusseldorf.
This led to another two years as head of the used car sales centre in Koengen, 20km south-east of Stuttgart, before he became head of Mercedes-Benz corporate sales in Stuttgart for a year and then head of the truck sales control department until 2004, when he took up his post in Russia.
GoAuto understands Mr Tempel’s predecessor, Wolfgang Schrempp, also left MBA because he reached the official German retirement age.
