Professor Joachim Zahn (born Wuppertal 24 January 1914, died Munich 8 October 2002) was the chairman of Daimler Benz AG between 1971 and 1979.
His time at the top was noteworthy, among other things, for the building of Europe's largest truck factory, at Wörth (between Karlsruhe and the frontier with France at Wissembourg).
[1] In 1973 he was awarded an honorary professorship by the regional government of Baden-Württemberg, giving rise to the misguided impression in English speaking countries that Germany's leading manufacturer of trucks and luxury cars was being led by an academic.
He is better thought of as an expert in finance and taxation with a formidable and clear intellect, and a capacity to inspire affection and respect in colleagues.
This prompted banker Hermann Josef Abs to quip that there were so many teeth in the German economy that it was reasonable to speak of a complete bite.