Germany's premier automakers have been hurt more than rivals by declining sales of luxury vehicles and a shift to smaller cars
Daimler's executive board has moved offices within the southwestern German city of Stuttgart a number of times over the years. They first relocated across town from the district of Untertürkheim to the higher-lying district of Möhringen. A few years later, they returned to the valley. Then recently the top executives had to transfer from their high-rise office building there to the former company museum.
But wherever the company's senior management goes, a fog of rumors always follows them. And at the moment it is billowing thicker than ever.
Dieter Zetsche, the company's mustachioed CEO, is even allegedly due to be replaced soon—apparently by the current chairman of the supervisory board, Manfred Bischoff. And the more the managers whisper in backrooms, the more often they meet other colleagues who have already heard the rumor. For some people that even counts as a confirmation that the gossip is true.
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