It wasn’t an easy start.

Soon after being stationed in Seoul in 2015, Dimitris Psillakis, the CEO and president of Mercedes-Benz Korea, took to the parliamentary stand and apologized for causing public concern over a case that involved an angry Korean driver smashing an S-class sedan with a golf club. 

Things could have gone worse, further damaging the reputation that the German carmaker had been building for years. But by keeping the legacy of the most-wanted luxury car brand in the country, the Greece-born CEO opened a new golden era for Mercedes-Benz’s operation in South Korea last year.

The success, after a brief period of difficulty, was remarkable.

By October, Mercedes-Benz Korea had reached a record-breaking point, selling more than 50,000 units, or over 6,000 fleets a month, a first for a foreign carmaker here. Globally, the Korean branch of the German carmaker is ranked third, after the branches in China and the US, in terms of the number of E-class and S-class sedans.

The improvement was not so much a result of sales strategy, but a focus on customer service, he said. It was also helped by the German carmaker’s experience on how to keep its business unperturbed by ups and downs.

“Life and business is never sailing on the lake. You (should be) ready for many surprises,” said Psillakis as he sat down with The Korea Herald at his office in central Seoul.

“As a German company, we have long-term and short-term plans. We plan and observe the challenges and try to adjust,” he said, adding that hitting 50,000 units in sales was already predicted at the beginning of 2016, along with the planned release of the company’s new E-class in July.

And Mercedes-Benz Korea will continue to grow, despite the political turmoil South Korea is going through.

“We will see how the political and economic environment would be next year. But yes, we plan to grow,” he said, adding that he hopes Koreans will overcome the crisis quickly and get the nation’s economic growth back on track.

The confidence in Mercedes-Benz’s sales forecast for this year is based on the carmaker’s strong lineup, which started to be rolled out in the latter part of last year, and more investment in after-sales.

Mercedes-Benz has invested 25 billion won ($20.9 million) to build and operate its training center in Kiheung, Gyeonggi Province. Built in 2015, the center offers various educational sessions to all employees of the carmaker’s dealer network, from receptionists to technicians. It is the first in Asia, and the third worldwide, following Germany and France, the company said.

Less than two years after the opening of the center, a team of Korean technicians won five prizes out of six individual competition categories at the Global TechMaster, a global competition held to enhance the technical skills and capabilities of after-sales service employees around the world. The team achieved an overall second position, he said.

“It is proof that our methodology as well as our investment in facilities, training courses, selecting good people and training them further, and our growing dealer network works. It is a great balance.”

Mercedes-Benz Korea’s My Service program, launched in March 2015, is another major pillar that has been increasing customer satisfaction, the company said. The program is delivered in four different styles including a lounge option that offers luxury amenities and service to consumers waiting to have their cars fixed, and a speed option for customers who need service within a short period of time.

“Koreans like to have very fast service that is relatively cheap. This is not always matching. … Our effort is to deliver quality within reasonable time. We improved a lot, looking at statistics by third parties. Results from the customer’s point of view are visible,” he said.

Born in Athens in 1966, Psillakis studied electronics engineering with medical electronics at the University of Kent at Canterbury and earned a Master in Business Administration from the Imperial College Business School at University of London. In 1992, he joined the German Carmaker’s Greece sales unit and climbed the corporate ladder by specializing in sales and marketing in the European country.

In 2009, Psillakis relocated to Brazil to cover the carmaker’s sales and marketing operations in Latin America. He was named managing director of Mercedes-Benz Cars Brazil in 2014, before being stationed in Korea as president and CEO of the Germany carmaker’s South Korea unit.

Known as an open-minded and goal-driven CEO, Psillakis has been seeking ways to build close ties with Koreans.

“Koreans and Greeks are emotional. Fast-moving, fast-deciding, fast-acting and very much oriented,” he said.

“Geographically it is a wanted privileged location which means we have always been involved in disputes. But that makes the country and the people very strong. People are fighters and survivors.”

In the fast-evolving automotive market, the CEO sees phenomenal changes coming: Electric mobility and car sharing triggered by vehicles with autonomous driving. And Mercedes-Benz aims to take the lead through partnership with other companies, from tech giants, such as Samsung Electronics, to smaller startups.

“Mercedes-Benz is the brand that invented the automobile 130 years ago. We have been reinventing year after year, decade after decade … we can be expected to do the same for the next 130 years,” he said.

“You can clearly see that many small companies are rising in different fields. And these things are coming into the car. For that we (will) integrate more items, more technology to be fast, to be entertaining, to catch up with the customer demand and trends.”

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)