Annette Winkler is a German business executive who was the
CEO and director of
Smart Automobile
Smart (stylized as smart) is a German automotive brand, marque. Smart Automobile Co., Ltd. is a joint venture established by Mercedes-Benz AG and Geely, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in 2019 and aimed at producing Smart-badged cars in China to be ...
, the division of
Daimler AG
The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufactu ...
noted for manufacturing and marketing the two-passenger
Smart Fortwo and four-passenger
Smart Forfour
The Smart Forfour (stylized as "smart forfour") is a city car ( A-segment) marketed by Smart over two generations. The first generation was marketed in Europe from 2004 to 2006 with a front-engine configuration, sharing its platform with the Mitsub ...
city cars, from 2011 to 2018.
As the first woman to head a Daimler brand,
Automotive News Europe described Winkler's 2010 appointment as "a significant victory for women in a male-dominated industry".
in early 2018, Daimler announced Winkler retirement as the division’s CEO at the end of September, 2018 after 23 years with the company. She was appointed as a member of the advisory board of Mercedes-Benz South Africa as of January 2019.
Background
Born in
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...
, West Germany in 1959,
Winkler completed training as an industrial clerk and thereafter an internship at the
Karlsberg brewery in
Homburg, Saarland
Homburg (; french: Hombourg, pfl, Humborch) is a town in Saarland, Germany and the administrative seat of the Saarpfalz district. With a population of 43,029 inhabitants (2022), it is the third largest town in the state. The city offers over ...
.
From 1980 to 1984 she studied in Frankfurt; received a degree in economics; completed her doctorate in business administration;
and completed her thesis on corporate valuation and jurisprudence
at the
Goethe University Frankfurt.
Career
At age 27 and upon her father's retirement,
Winkler assumed the sole management of his construction company,
A. Winkler Sohn GmbH & Co. KG,
a family-owned business since 1824.
Sales increased from 4 to 60 million euros under her direction.
She was named the 1992 Entrepreneur of the Year
by champagne house
Veuve Clicquot
Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin () is a Champagne house founded in 1772 and based in Reims. It is one of the largest Champagne houses. Madame Clicquot is credited with major breakthroughs, creating the first known vintage champagne in 1810, and ...
.
Six months after leaving her father's construction company, it was in receivership.
Daimler CEO
Dieter Zetsche first met Winkler in 1995 at a convention in
Stuttgart, where she stood out as a particularly strong speaker. Though she had no prior automotive or publicity experience,
Daimler appointed Winkler that same year
to head public relations and communications for Mercedes-Benz (1995–1997).
Winkler went on to head a Mercedes-Benz commercial truck dealership in
Brunswick (1997–1999)
— where she learned and become licensed to drive heavy trucks in nine days, in order to better understand the needs of her customers.
She subsequently became CEO of Daimler (then
DaimlerChrysler
The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacture ...
) of Belgium and Luxembourg (1999–2005) and after that the Vice President of Global Business Management & Wholesale Europe (2005–2010).
In 2010, succeeding Ulrich Walker, Winkler was appointed CEO of Smart, just as the brand was falling below the critical 100,000 annual sales figure and faced renewed competition with the
Audi A1
The Audi A1 (internally designated ''Typ 8X'') is a supermini car launched by Audi at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show. Sales of the initial three-door A1 model started in Germany in August 2010, with the United Kingdom following in November 2010. A ...
and
Fiat 500
The Fiat 500 ( it, Cinquecento, ) is a rear-engined, four-seat, small city car that was manufactured and marketed by Fiat Automobiles from 1957 until 1975 over a single generation in two-door saloon and two-door station wagon bodystyles.
Launc ...
.
Winkler currently oversees co-development with Renault of the forthcoming third generation
Smart Fortwo (C453/W453 build series), indicating the vehicle will retain the rear-engine configuration, overall length as well as its hemispherical steel safety cell, marketed as the ''Tridion'' cell.
Also, under Winkler's direction, Smart has focused on
car sharing
Carsharing or car sharing (AU, NZ, CA, TH, & US) or car clubs (UK) is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. It differs from traditional car rental in that the owners of the cars are often pri ...
and rental programs — namely Daimler AG's
Car2Go
Share Now GmbH is a German carsharing company, formed from the merger of Car2Go and DriveNow. Since 2022, it is a subsidiary of the Free2Move division of multinational automaker Stellantis providing carsharing services in urban areas in Europe ...
subsidiary
— as well as development and marketing of
electric bicycles.
As of 2014, Winkler sits on the board of directors at
Air Liquide
Air Liquide S.A. (; ; literally "liquid air"), is a French multinational company which supplies industrial gases and services to various industries including medical, chemical and electronic manufacturers. Founded in 1902, after Linde it is ...
, a French multinational company which supplies industrial gases and services to various industries, and is a Member of the Counsel for Foreign Economic Affairs of the German Ministry for Economics.
Personal
Growing up, Winkler was a classical music aficionado, played the piano, and at one time considered starting a concert agency.
Since 1992, she has been married to an attorney.
Winkler speaks fluent German, English, Dutch and French
and is an avid bicyclist, having cycled many of the prominent mountain passes of the
Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...
.
Winkler drives a Fortwo Brabus or Fortwo Electric Drive and as of 2012 still owned a Smart fortwo she purchased in 2000 while living in Brussels, when she had been the head of Daimler of Belgium.
Colleagues describe her as a "ständig aufgeladene Batterie" — a battery that's always fully charged.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winkler, Annette
1959 births
Living people
Chief executives in the automobile industry
Women corporate executives
Mercedes-Benz Group executives
DaimlerChrysler
Air Liquide people
20th-century German businesspeople
21st-century German businesspeople
People from Wiesbaden
Goethe University Frankfurt alumni