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Daimler CEO steps down weeks after unveiling Mercedes-Benz’s first Tesla Model X competitor
Just weeks after taking the wraps off the Mercedes-Benz EQC, the German automaker’s first all-electric vehicle that’s expected to compete in the same segment as the Tesla Model X, Daimler has confirmed that CEO Dieter Zetsche would be stepping down from his post. Zetsche, who has been with Daimler for 42 years, will return to the company and chair the supervisory board in 2021.
The Daimler CEO will be succeeded by Ola Källenius, a 49-year-old Swede who also has a long tenure in the legacy automaker. Prior to becoming CEO, Källenius served as the company’s head of R&D. He is expected to take over as CEO and head of Mercedes-Benz this May 2019, provided that his appointment is approved by shareholders. Zetsche, for his part, was originally signed on until December 2019, but he has opted to depart earlier amidst the company’s preparations for “fundamental changes taking place in the automotive industry.”
Daimler’s appointment of Källenius is considered as part of the company’s push to appoint a younger set of leaders that can effectively carry the company forward in a changing automotive landscape. Among these changes is the emerging wave of electrification, which is pushed by upstart electric car companies like Tesla and embraced by veteran carmakers like Porsche, which recently announced the cancellation of its diesel-powered line.
In this light, selecting Ola Källenius to succeed Dieter Zetsche seems to be the right direction for Daimler. Källenius, after all, is noted for being one of the company’s executives who pushed for the development of 10 electric vehicles that are planned for release. The Mercedes-Benz EQC, unveiled earlier this month, is the first of these vehicles.
The younger executive’s background is unlike Daimler’s other CEOs,’ considering that Källenius’ experience is not on engineering, but on finance. His experience is vast nonetheless, with stints in both McLaren Automotive and AMG, Mercedes-Benz’s performance-oriented sub-brand that grew and evolved under Dieter Zetsche’s leadership.
Daimler’s first foray into electric vehicles, the Mercedes-Benz EQC, is a premium SUV that would compete directly with vehicles like the Tesla Model X. In the EQC’s unveiling, Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche announced that the vehicle kicks off the company’s $12 billion push towards the development of electric vehicles under the EQ brand. Zetsche also noted that Daimler would be investing another $1.2 billion in global battery production to support the growth of the company’s electrified offerings.
The Mercedes-Benz EQC features several compelling features that make it a contender in the premium electric SUV segment. It is equipped with dual electric drivetrains at each axle, which generate a combined 402 hp and 562 lb-ft of torque. Thanks to its electric motors, the EQC can sprint from 0-60 mph in 4.9 seconds and hit a top speed of 112 mph. The SUV is also equipped with an 80 kWh battery, which is expected to give the vehicle a range of over 200 miles per charge.
That said, Mercedes-Benz noted in a later update that it would adopt a gradual rollout for the EQC, to ensure that warranty costs for the vehicle don’t spike when customers start taking deliveries. Mercedes-Benz head of production and supply chain management Markus Schaefer described the company’s rationale in a statement.
“We want to be sure we deliver Mercedes quality from day one in all aspects, and we have to watch the warranty side for customers as well. We don’t want customers ending up at the mechanic later. Slowing down the ramp-up is a tool to make sure we do it right, to address all the unknowns that an electric car brings,” he said.
Elon Musk
Tesla Semi finally has an FSD timeline and it’s waiting on the Cybercab
Elon Musk told investors Semi self-driving should start working by early 2027, per today’s earnings.
During Wednesday’s’ Tesla Q2 earnings call, an analyst asked Elon Musk when Tesla would look at autonomy for the Semi. His answer set a real timeline for the first time, noting that self-driving on the Tesla Semi is expected to start working “around the end of this year or early next year”.
Musk framed the delay as a matter of priority, not capability. Tesla’s self-driving team is currently focused on Model 3, Model Y, and Cybercab, the vehicles that make up the overwhelming majority of Tesla’s fleet. Since Semi trucks on the road remain a small fraction of that total even after the recent Nevada factory ramp, Musk said it made more sense to keep the software team’s attention on what he called “the march of nines of safety” for the higher volume vehicles first. Autonomous Semi development is “taking a bit of a backseat for the next six months or so,” he said, before adding that it “will definitely be working next year and in time for the scale-up to high production of the Tesla Semi.”
Tesla Semi’s official battery capacity leaked by California regulators
The timeline lines up with what’s already been showing up on public roads. In June, a Tesla Semi was spotted in Sunnyvale wearing a full validation rig, the same rooftop sensor array Tesla mounts on vehicles ahead of an FSD milestone.
A second unit was seen near Fremont days later with a matching camera suite and lens washers. Separately, Tesla analyst Nic Cruz Patane posted video this month of the production Semi’s exterior camera array, ten AI4 based units built directly into the truck rather than added later.
Tesla Semi AI4 cameras. The production version has 10 cameras on its exterior.
These trucks are designed to be autonomous. pic.twitter.com/GH3BamxIBQ
— Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) April 14, 2026
Musk also gave the reason autonomy on the Semi matters in the first place, a persistent shortage of qualified truck drivers. “There is a really serious shortage of truckers,” he said on the call, framing a self-driving Semi as important both for addressing that shortage and for improving safety and comfort for the drivers running the truck today.
The timing also tracks with the Semi’s production reality. Tesla’s Q2 shareholder letter, dropped language promising the Semi would reach volume production this year. Musk pointed to 4680 battery cell output as the near-term constraint on Semi and Cybercab production. A software timeline landing in early 2027 gives Tesla’s autonomy team room to work while the hardware ramp catches up behind it.
It’s worth nothing that this isn’t necessarily a promise the Semi ships driverless next year. Musk’s own language, self-driving “working” by early 2027, describes internal validation catching up to hardware already riding on every production truck, not a public unsupervised rollout.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2026 on Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what the company reported compared to what Wall Street analysts expected.
The earnings results come after Tesla reported a massive beat on vehicle deliveries for the second quarter, delivering 489,126 vehicles and building 451,758 cars during the three-month span.
This was a major shock for those on Wall Street as they anticipated somewhere around 400,000 deliveries for the quarter, and showed Tesla still has plenty of demand for its vehicles around the world and in the U.S. despite losing the $7,500 EV Tax Credit last year.
Tesla Q2 2026 Earnings Results
- Non-GAAP EPS – $0.33 reported vs. $0.53 expected
- Revenues – $28.236 billion reported vs. $26.4 billion expected
- Free Cash Flow- -$1.092B
- Profit -$ 4.751B
Tesla (beat/missed) analyst expectations, so the market response to the company’s quarter is what we will look for next.
Tesla shares closed today down just over 1 percent, trading at $374.01.
In the past, it has been anyone’s guess with what Tesla shares will do after they report earnings. Strong quarters have resulted in sharp drops, while lackluster quarters have seen the stock shoot up considerably.
Tesla will hold its Q2 2026 Earnings Call in about 90 minutes at 5:30 p.m. on the East Coast. Remarks will be made by CEO Elon Musk and other executives, who will shed some light on the investor questions that we covered earlier this week.
You can stream it below. Additionally, we will be doing our Live Blog on X and Facebook.
Q2 2026 Earnings Call https://t.co/zZS6ii2TWK
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
Tesla is about to make parking in busy parking lots at businesses and other points of interest less stressful than ever by allowing drivers more control over where they park and how, CEO Elon Musk confirmed on X.
Tesla has been working to improve the parking performance of vehicles utilizing the Full Self-Driving suite, but now it is looking to add more customization, allowing drivers to choose the specific space they park in, but also potentially the orientation the car pulls into the spot:
It’s coming soon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2026
Musk has reiterated on X twice over the past several weeks that Tesla is working to make things with the FSD suite based more on the driver’s specific preferences and behaviors that were seen in past drives.
Essentially, it sounds like if you tend to park away from a business to avoid other vehicles, Tesla FSD will soon recognize that preference of yours and start parking further away as well. Additionally, the prospect of assigned parking spaces has been something many owners have voiced concerns about.
Living in a community with assigned parking spaces makes using FSD incredibly difficult as it will rarely park in the correct spot when there are so many to choose from. This is also pertinent in work settings where there are sometimes assigned parking spaces.
The updates to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite in terms of listening to driver preferences with parking are also extending to routing. Tesla announced yesterday that with the release of its 2026 Summer Update, it was adding Automatic Navigation and Preferred Routes:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla has always maintained the idea that any human input is bad input, and that, ideally, Tesla Full Self-Driving will always make the right decision. Of course, this is all in theory, but the issue is that so many of Tesla’s interventions have come because it does something that is not necessarily wrong, but perhaps not what the driver would prefer.
Taking these preferences into account will help Tesla alleviate some of the potentially unnecessary interventions that drivers perform.
Tesla Semi finally has an FSD timeline and it’s waiting on the Cybercab
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
