Daimler Truck will be released into entrepreneurial independence

Some old-timer trucks have already been transferred to the commercial vehicle manufacturer Daimler Truck - otherwise the split-up of the Daimler car company should go soberly and without a lot of fuss. On this Wednesday, after a long preparation and the green light from the shareholders, the time has come: Daimler Truck, with over 100,000 employees worldwide, will be released into entrepreneurial independence for the first time. Mercedes cars and trucks go their separate ways. The mega project "Focus" ends the common history that goes back to the 19th century. The trident star as a trademark will be retained by both manufacturers. The image factor should not be underestimated, because experts say the Mercedes-Benz brand is really expensive. It is valued, for example, by the US consultancy Interbrand at just under 51 billion US dollars (around 45.2 billion euros). That means eighth place worldwide - among the car manufacturers only the Japanese competitor Toyota does better. The split is not cheap either - it will cost at least 700 million euros. These one-time costs relate, among other things, to the division of the financial services business. Daimler Truck will then go public on Friday next week (December 10th). From its own point of view, the world's largest manufacturer of trucks and buses wants to qualify for the Dax stock market index by the end of March. According to the plans, Daimler shareholders are beckoning a deal because they will receive additional shares from the commercial vehicle manufacturer. There has long been speculation about a possible spin-off of the truck business. Anyone who listens to managers and experts sometimes wonders why cars and trucks in Stuttgart can hold out for so long in the first place. "Trucks and cars are two completely different businesses," said CEO Ola Källenius in October. The split is coming late, but not too late, judges industry expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer. Connecting technologies like diesel are history. "The similarities between cars and trucks are as big as the similarities between submarines and airplanes," said the director of the private Center Automotive Research (CAR) of the German press agency. Daimler is not alone in the world of large corporations. Siemens brought the medical technology and the energy sector to the stock exchange. The US industrial giant General Electric (GE) is to be broken into three parts. In Swabia, the aim is to increase the value of the previous corporate divisions and to become more competitive. In particular, the former commercial vehicle division, which was overshadowed by the prestigious passenger car business for so long, wants to become more profitable.