By Tom Mitchell in Beijing
When Daimler decided to post a board member to Beijing for the first time, it did so with a simple mandate: repair long-running operational problems at the German company’s Mercedes-Benz unit in China and close the gap with BMW and Volkswagen’s Audi.
Ford has created 250 new jobs at its Dagenham engine plant. The company is looking for a new wave of production operators to support its new diesel engine production line, which will go live in 2015.
It has been a tough 13 months for Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn. Since August 2013 he has had three highly skilled leaders leave the alliance. Nissan Chief Planning Officer Andy Palmer is the latest 50-something executive to depart.
Andy Palmer, the car-guy chief planning officer at Nissan, who was once tipped as a possible future CEO, is leaving the company to head UK sports car maker Aston Martin.
The European trade body in China said Beijing is not planning to force foreign suppliers operating in the country to form local joint ventures, dismissing a report last week that had stirred concern among European firms.
Germany’s Stuttgarter Zeitung newspaper reported that China had urged three German suppliers to form partnerships with local rivals, citing the head of German parts supplier ElringKlinger.
