Lothar Schupet on Building a Brand from Scratch, Aligning Culture at Scale, and Leading Through Global Complexity

This week, Jessica sits down with Lothar Schupet, Acting CEO of Zeekr EU, to explore what it really takes to build a premium brand from the ground up in one of the most competitive and complex industries in the world. With more than 25 years in automotive, Lothar brings a rare perspective on the shift from legacy organizations to high-speed, startup-like environments. Lothar shares the realities of launching a new brand in Europe, from designing products without historical customer feedback to building distribution, infrastructure, and operations simultaneously across multiple markets. He explains why early success depended on hiring “doers” who could operate without structure, and how the next phase required layering in deep industry expertise to stabilize and scale the business. The conversation also dives into culture as a performance driver. Lothar reflects on the challenge of aligning teams across dozens of nationalities, backgrounds, and legacy mindsets, and how clear cultural beliefs, like trust paired with accountability, enabled faster decision making, decentralized ownership, and sustained growth. He offers practical insight into embedding culture through repetition, leadership modeling, and systems that reinforce behavior over time. About Lothar Schupet Lothar Schupet is the Acting CEO of Zeekr Europe, a role he assumed in January 2025. Prior to this, he served as the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) and Head of Commercial Operations at Zeekr from January 2023 to December 2024, overseeing sales, network development, financial services, logistics, training, and retail operations. Lothar's extensive experience in the automotive industry and his leadership roles across various European markets position him to drive Zeekr Europe's growth and expansion in the electric vehicle sector. Lothar holds a Master's in International Business from Grenoble Graduate School of Business. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lothar-schupet-a354a21/ Website: https://www.zeekr.eu/ Host: Jessica Kriegel Website: jessicakriegel.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jessicakriegel Instagram: @jess_kriegel Culture Partners Website: culturepartners.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/culturepartners