SPEAKER: JURGEN HUBBERT

Jurgen Hubbert joined the Main Board of Daimler-Benz in 1987, a position held until his retirement in 2004.

Jurgen Hubbert studied Automotive Engineering at the University of Stuttgart, and then joined Daimler-Benz AG in 1965. He held a number of planning and production positions, until 1985 when he undertook the role of Corporate Planning, reporting directly to the Main Board of Daimler-Benz. Here he was responsible for the planning and production of all Daimler-Benz cars and commercial vehicles.

In 1988, as a result of a corporate restructuring, Hubbert was appointed to the Main Board of the newly-formed Mercedes-Benz AG, which was responsible for the production of all cars and commercial vehicles. Under the chairman, Helmut Werner, he headed the entire motor car division. In this role he was responsible for the development of the successful A-Class model, which was manufactured in Germany and Brazil, and the M-Class model, produced at the company’s factory in the United States. In 1994 the company decided to build the “Swatch” car, in partnership with Nicholas Hayek, founder of Swatch. It was launched in 1998 and was known as the “Smart” car.

After the merger of Daimler with the Chrysler Corporation in 1998, Jurgen Hubbert became a member of the DaimlerChrysler board, with responsibility for the Mercedes car division and for “Smart”. Apart from his responsibilities with Daimler, he is also a member of the Engineering faculty at the Technical University of Karlsruhe. In 1998 he was made an honorary Professor at the same University.

Jurgen Hubbert speaks on leadership, manufacturing and globalisation.