Andreas Renschler

Andreas Renschler (born March 29, 1958, in Stuttgart) is a German engineering manager. He is currently the member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG with responsibility for commercial vehicles.

He was previously a member of the Daimler AG Board of Management from 1 October 2004 until 29 January 2014.

After completing his training as a banker, Renschler studied business engineering from 1979 to 1984 at the Technical College in Esslingen, where he obtained a Diplom degree in Business Engineering. From 1984 to 1987 he studied business administration at the University of Tübingen, where he also earned a Diplom degree. He wrote his thesis at the Hewlett-Packard computer company.

In 1988 Renschler joined Daimler-Benz AG, where he initially worked in the Organization and Data Processing department. In 1989 he worked on the staff of Mercedes-Benz Chairman Werner Niefer, after which he managed project teams at the Corporate Planning unit. In 1992 he was Executive Assistant to the designated Board of Management Chairman Helmut Werner. In 1993 he was appointed to manage the All Activity Vehicle (AAV) project, whose aim was to develop an all-new luxury SUV and to select and build a corresponding production facility in the U.S. The result was the newly developed Mercedes-Benz M-Class, which has been manufactured in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, since 1997. The luxurious SUV defined a new segment and was a market success. The vehicle has also been delivered to customers in Germany since 1998.

After managing the M-Class unit and serving as President and CEO of the production subsidiary Mercedes-Benz U.S. International Inc. (MBUSI), Renschler switched to the corporate headquarters in Stuttgart, where he was appointed Senior Vice President, Executive Management Development at DaimlerChrysler, the company that had recently been formed through the merger of Daimler and Chrysler.

Renschler was President of smart GmbH from 1999 to 2004. He stabilized the small car brand, cut costs, and opened up new markets in Asia. Today, the smart brand is the market leader in Germany’s micro-car segment and an integral part of the Daimler division Mercedes-Benz Cars.

In addition to his responsibilities at smart, Renschler was assigned to the Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) in Tokyo in spring 2004 in order to assess the strategic and operational options for MMC within the Daimler Group. As a result of this assessment, Daimler terminated its involvement in MMC.

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