The Mercedes-Benz logo does not evoke battlefields in the collective imagination, yet a signal that few would have imagined just a few months ago comes from Stuttgart: Ola Källenius, the group’s CEO, does not rule out entering arms production.
KÄLLENIUS’ STATEMENT
In fact, the news bounces from the United States. The measured but unequivocal words chosen by the Swedish manager to announce what many observers see as a perhaps anticipated but no less striking turning point come through an interview given to the Wall Street Journal: “The world has become more unpredictable and I think it is quite clear that Europe must strengthen its defense capabilities. If we could play a positive role in this regard, we would be ready to do so.” A statement far from academic. With Europe rushing to rearm, the message from Mercedes’ CEO does not appear to be a philosophical reflection, but a precise industrial strategy.
THE LIFEBOAT FOR A CRISIS-RIDDEN COLOSSUS
And the timing choice is certainly not accidental. There is an emergency in the accounts: in 2025 the net profit of the three-pointed star collapsed from 10.4 to 5.3 billion euros. Practically halved. The heavy vehicle sector is no better off. Daimler Truck opened 2026 with an 80% profit collapse in the first quarter. Faced with such numbers, defense is no longer a taboo or a bizarre bet, but becomes a financial lifeboat.
Källenius said it clearly: it is only discussed on the condition that there is an economic return. It would be a niche compared to cars, notes the group’s financial monthly Spiegel Manager Magazine, but a niche that grows and pushes margins. After all, the Germans do not start from zero, since the commercial vehicle division has long been supplying standard vehicles adapted for the armed forces. Instead, there is tight-lipped silence from the Stuttgart-Untertürkheim headquarters, where no one is commenting on the interview content for the moment.
A BOILING SECTOR
But Stuttgart’s move is a shockwave crossing the entire German automotive industry. European military budgets are soaring, driven by new NATO targets and a war in Ukraine that shows no end, and by Europe’s needs (ambitions?) to equip itself with autonomous defense from the increasingly perforated US umbrella.
And so manufacturers are moving. A sensational case that the Reuters agency revealed at the end of April concerns Volkswagen. The Wolfsburg group would be negotiating with the Israelis of Rafael Advanced Systems, the creators of the Iron Dome shield, to convert the historic Osnabrück plant to missile defense. According to Bild, talks are very heated and it is easy to understand why, since from 2027 the factory will lose its current automotive orders and there are 2,300 blue-collar workers to save.
From Wolfsburg, however, writes the Handelsblatt, no official confirmation. Also in this case it is prudent to add “for the moment.” Meanwhile, other maneuvers emerge: Rheinmetall has just struck an agreement with Deutsche Telekom to shield the skies from drone attacks.
THE ECHO OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
After all, just leafing through industrial history books makes it clear that there is nothing really new. In Germany, cars and the war apparatus walked together for a good part of the last century. The Luftwaffe’s aircraft engines came off the lines in Munich: in 1929, also then in the midst of the economic crisis, BMW purchased the license to produce radial aircraft engines from the American Pratt & Whitney. Further west, Daimler plants sustained the Wehrmacht with trucks and heavy engines.
And Volkswagen’s very origins are closely intertwined with the National Socialist regime: the company was founded in the spring of 1937 on the initiative of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront, the regime’s sole union under the Nazi party. The project was born from the regime’s propaganda, which intended to motorize the German working class through an economical and accessible car. But from the same plants that would produce the Beetle myth came the Kübelwagen destined for war fronts. Today, in Europe of rearmament and economic crisis, that historical knot between wheels and cannons seems to reappear: but due to budgets more than mobilization decrees.
