New head of Mercedes-Benz Trucks Product Engineering named

Dr. Rainer Müller-Finkeldei will take over as Head of Mercedes-Benz Trucks Product Engineering. (Photo: Daimler Group)

Dr. Rainer Müller-Finkeldei will take over responsibility for Mercedes-Benz Trucks Product Engineering in May 2023, leading the brand’s engineering divisions in Germany, Brazil and Türkiye (Turkey), Daimler Group announced. He succeeds Prof. Dr. Uwe Baake, who will retire at the end of April.

Müller-Finkeldei joined the Daimler Group in 1995 while still a graduate student. He started his professional career in Research and Development at former Daimler-Benz AG, holding positions in the passenger car and vans business. He became executive assistant to Vice President Truck Product Creation in 2004. Further senior positions in Product Development within the Daimler Group followed. He became Director Mercedes-Benz Trucks Mechatronics in 2010, then was appointed Senior Vice President Product Engineering and Technology at Daimler Truck North America in April 2020.

“Rainer Müller-Finkeldei is a great engineer with international experience who understands our customer’s needs,” Karin Rådström, CEO Mercedes-Benz Trucks, stated. “He is also an excellent leader. I am convinced he will play a vital role in developing the right products to lead in sustainable transportation.”

Prof. Dr. Uwe Baake is retiring after 28 years with the Daimler Group.

Uwe Baake plans to retire at the end of April after a nearly 30-year career with the Daimler Group. He has held his current position as head of Mercedes-Benz Trucks Product Engineering since 2013. In this role, he successfully expanded the global research and development centers in Woerth, Germany, Iracemápolis, Brazil, Aksaray, Türkiye, and Beijing, China, and recently set up the new Mercedes-Benz Trucks Design Center. In addition, he localized the Mercedes-Benz Actros in China and Brazil and contributed to development of such products as the new Mercedes-Benz Actros with MirrorCam, GenH2 Truck and the Mercedes-Benz eActros.

“On behalf of the whole Daimler Truck Board, I would like to thank Uwe for his extraordinary commitment and great contributions over the last 28 years,” Rådström said. “He paved the way for new technologies with strategic foresight and endurance, especially in the field of low- and zero-emission technology and global platform strategies. I wish him all the best for the future.”