Reports have come out that Mercedes Benz Korea’s CEO Ivo Maul will be replaced by Harald Behrend, the current chief operations officer of Mercedes Benz Hong Kong. Maul is said to return to the head office in Germany early next month.

Maul was appointed the first CEO of the Korean branch in January 2003. A Mercedes Korea spokesman said the CEO’s replacement is a usual personnel change because heads of overseas operations are replaced every four or five years.

However industry insiders consider the Maul’s recall a reprimand for his failure to properly manage the image of the German luxury car in Korea.

Mercedes Korea was recently ordered by the Fair Trade Commission to correct irregular business practices including price-fixing. It was also the target of a tax probe by the National Tax Service and slapped with fines for some S-Class models that violated Korean environmental regulations.

Maul’s replacement has been expected since early this year, since he has been engaged in a lawsuit with Eugene & Company Corp. The Mercedes dealer for Gyeonggi and Bundang lodged a complaint against the company’s decision to replace dealers in the region.

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