busnews.com.au July 2019 ABC^37IN SAFE HANDS
WORDS FABIAN COTTER IMAGES COURTESY DAIMLERABC: Hello, Mehmet. Nice meeting
you. Firstly, congratulations on
your new role at Mercedes-Benz
Buses. How does it feel to be in
such a key position?
MK: Hello Fabian, thank you for the
opportunity. It has of course been
almost 10 months since I have taken
over this role. I definitely feel more
confident and clear about what I want
to achieve in Australia and the Pacific
for Mercedes-Benz Buses now. I won’t
be shy about it: Mercedes-Benz keeps
setting the standards for the bus
industry, so it is thrilling to represent
the three-pointed-star and taking the
leadership of the best talent in the
industry here in Australia.
ABC: Can you give us a bit of the
background behind your career
to date? How did it all get started?
How did you get to this stage?
You are reporting directly to
Mercedes-Benz Truck and Bus
Australia-Pacific director Michael
May, no doubt?
MK: Sure. I am originally from Turkey
and I have been working for Daimler AG,
the parent company of Mercedes-Benz,
since 2002. I joined Mercedes-Benz
Turk in 2002 through a management
trainee programme. As part of the
programme, I had the unique chance
to work at multidisciplinary projects
including all business units and brands
we represented. Just to give you an
idea, I was part of the three different
project groups launching our Travego
intercity coach, smart fortwo and
Maybach brands in Turkey, and then
accompanied a group of German
engineers to the mountain ranges at
the Turkish-Iranian boundary for metal
fatigue testing on our Unimog military
trucks. It was challenging, fun and gave
me a lot exposure.
Following my first leadership role as
the Passenger Car Workshop manager
in our own retail outlet in Istanbul, I
decided to take on an international
assignment. In 2007, I moved to our
regional office in Dubai as the After
Sales Service manager for Daimler
Buses, responsible for the Middle
East, Africa and Iran. I had a Brazilian
manager at the time. We basically
created the after-sales function from
scratch together, facilitated delivery
of thousands of buses, set up training
competence centres across the region
and created lucrative after-sales
business models both for our customers
and Daimler. During my tenure in Dubai,
my role changed - my region changed
actually a number of times - and the
team and business grew.
At the 10-year mark, in 2017, I looked
back and felt proud of what I had
achieved. A high performing after-
sales team; a dedicated, bus-focused
distributor network; and a potential
successor I felt confident in handing
over to. I had the feeling it was time
to move on; my wife also supported
my decision, and we have been in
Melbourne since last October.
I work very closely with Michael as
one of the senior managers in his team.ABC: What is it that you love about
buses? Was it something that, likemany of us in the industry, you
fell into, or – also like many others- was it just something you were
basically born into?
MK: Fabian, I will tell you an anecdote
from my former region, Kenya. We had
recently delivered one school bus to
a village. Before this delivery primary
school children had to walk 20km
every day to and from their school in
the nearest town, through mud, rain
and there were sometimes big cats. On
the day of the delivery, the women and
kids of the town danced for us; some
were crying.
Daimler Truck AG Board have
recently gone through an interesting
exercise and looked for the one
“purpose” statement for the Truck
and Bus business; one purpose that
unites us across the globe for all
Daimler employees; one purpose,
which makes us get up every
morning and walk the extra mile
for our customers. After a long
debate, international collaboration,
the purpose statement crystallised
into one sentence:
“For all who keep the world moving.”
I feel a strong association to our
purpose statement, which perfectly
aligns to what we do day-to-day:
moving people from A to B so they
can be wherever they have to be, to do
whatever they have to do. This gives me
a strong sense of fulfilment.
The other interesting thing about
buses, which is quite different to
trucks and cars, is that they are
very much bespoke. It is also alot
about relationships and long-termHaving last year taken over as senior manager at Mercedes-Benz Buses,
Mehmet Karal says there are still surprises up the company’s sleeves.
In an ABC magazine exclusive, he discusses setting the standard and
building buses that will meet Australia’s changing transport needs.