Freightliner has announced that Michael von Mayenburg, the company’s chief engineering officer since 1990, will retire this summer. Elmar Boeckenhoff, who will become senior vice president of engineering and technology and a member of the company’s executive committee, will succeed von Mayenburg, whose retirement culminates a 41-year career in the truck and automotive manufacturing industry. He began working for DaimlerChrysler (then Daimler-Benz) in 1964 and held a variety of assignments in the design and service departments for diesel engines and truck chassis. In 1986 he was appointed chief of staff for the Daimler-Benz commercial vehicle development group, a position he held until joining Freightliner in 1990. During von Mayenburg’s career at Freightliner, the company’s brands launched new product lines including the Business Class (1991), the Century Class (1995), the Sterling Acterra (2000), the Business Class M2 (2002) and the Thomas Built Saf-T-Liner C2 (2003). In addition, the company implemented a multitude of features and technologies to enhance vehicle safety, increase productivity, improve ergonomics and reduce environmental impact.
Elmar Boeckenhoff has worked for DaimlerChrysler 14 years. Currently serving as head of testing for Mercedes-Benz vans, Boeckenhoff previously held positions as head of computational analysis for commercial vehicles and assistant to the board member for truck development. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Stuttgart, and his educational credentials also include graduate and undergraduate work in physics at RWTH Aachen University and the University of Cologne.
