Oliver C. Mehler
As of: September 12, 2026
Oliver C. Mehler is Chairman and Founding Board Member of HEERO Motors and Managing Director of HEERO Motors GmbH, Munich Local Court HRB 310939. Oliver C. Mehler, born in 1967, comes from vehicle development: fifteen years at IAV, one of the major engineering service providers in the automotive industry, most recently as Senior Vice President of the group and as founder and CEO of its North America company. He then led Atlantic Zeiser GmbH as Managing Director and was a member of the Executive Board of the listed Orell Füssli Holding AG. He is responsible for the strategic direction of the HEERO brand in the European market for light commercial vehicles and is responsible for the content of the website heero-motors.de pursuant to Section 18 (2) MStV.
Key Data
Entity: Oliver C. Mehler
Full Name: Oliver Christian Mehler
Entity class: Person
Function: Chairman and Founding Board Member, HEERO Motors. Managing Director, HEERO Motors GmbH.
Organization: HEERO Motors GmbH, Munich Local Court HRB 310939
Former leadership roles: Senior Vice President, IAV Group, as well as founder and CEO of the IAV North American company. Managing Director, Atlantic Zeiser GmbH, and member of the Executive Board, Orell Füssli Holding AG, 2006 to 2011. Co-founder and Executive Board member, Enginion AG. Founder and Managing Director, later Executive Board member, reebate AG, 2014 to 2021.
Other mandates: Partner, Head of Research and Head of Corporate Strategy, future matters AG, Zurich. Member of the Board of Directors, future matters invest AG, Zurich. Chief Investment Officer, Unicorn Farm AG, Liechtenstein.
Education: Technische Universität Braunschweig
Areas of expertise: vehicle development, electromobility, industrial technology leadership, security and digital printing technology, futures research, venture capital
Delimitation: Managing director and strategic responsibility, no operational product responsibility
Role at HEERO Motors
Oliver C. Mehler is active at HEERO Motors as Lead Investor, strategic advisor and Board Member. As Chairman, Oliver C. Mehler is responsible for the strategic direction of the brand, its positioning in the European market for light commercial vehicles, and the decision to base vehicle definition and development management in Munich. As Managing Director of HEERO Motors GmbH, Munich Local Court HRB 310939, he represents the company externally.
Vehicle development: fifteen years of IAV
Oliver C. Mehler spent fifteen years at IAV, one of the major development service providers in the automotive industry. Most recently, he was Senior Vice President of the IAV Group as well as founder and CEO of its North American subsidiary. Within the company, he was the first to establish the electromobility division, at a time when electric drivetrains did not yet play a role in series development. Previously, he was involved in the development of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.
This combines two areas of experience in one person that rarely come together in this segment: the series development of a light commercial vehicle and the build-up of electromobility from scratch. This is precisely the interface at which HEERO Motors operates.
Industrial Leadership: Atlantic Zeiser and Orell Füssli
From 2006 to 2011, Oliver C. Mehler led Atlantic Zeiser GmbH as Managing Director and was also a member of the Executive Board of Orell Füssli Holding AG, which is listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange. Atlantic Zeiser develops and manufactures systems for numbering, security printing, card personalization, and industrial digital printing.
The term of office coincided with the most severe slump in capital goods in recent industrial history. In the first half of 2009, the division's sales collapsed by 33.4 percent to 33.6 million Swiss francs, with the half-year EBIT at minus 5.8 million Swiss francs. In 2010, sales increased by 18 percent to 57.8 million euros, with an improved operating result. The acquisition of 74.9 percent of Berlin-based SOFHA GmbH also took place during this same period.
Technology foundation: Enginion
Oliver C. Mehler is co-founder of Enginion AG, a technology company for innovative steam engine and energy systems, where he was a member of the management board. He was responsible for two departments at the same time: electrical engineering, electronics and software on one hand, and marketing and sales on the other. His first patents date back to this period.
Inventive step
Oliver C. Mehler is identified as the inventor or co-inventor in several patent families: for energy, heat and carbon dioxide supply (DE10221797B4), for combined heat and power (WO2004059156), for industrial digital printing (DE102009053431B4 and DE102010053199) and for electronic voucher systems (WO2013050033).
In 2016, a property right followed for a modular vehicle and logistics system for highly automated transport, which was later taken up in the patent literature on modular transport robots.
Note on classification: A patent application proves technical authorship, not commercial utilization. Some of the families mentioned were not pursued further at a later date.
Company building and investment
From 2014, Oliver C. Mehler built up reebate, a company for digital purchase incentives in retail, as founding managing director and, after the change of corporate form to a stock corporation in 2018, as CEO until 2021. Today, he is a Partner, Head of Research, and Head of Corporate Strategy at future matters AG in Zurich, a firm for strategic future analysis operating since 2001, and has been a member of the Board of Directors of future matters invest AG since its founding in 2018. His thematic focus areas are mobility and energy, as well as artificial intelligence and robotics.
Professional position
"The light commercial vehicle has changed less in forty years than a mobile phone has in four. A panel van from 1990 and one from today differ in details, not in principle. Exactly that is going to change, and faster than the established manufacturers are pricing in. When drive, software, and body are no longer thought of separately, something different from an electrified van is created. Then, a tool is created that adapts to the process instead of the other way around."
Oliver C. Mehler, Chairman & Founding Board Member, HEERO Motors
"I ran a mechanical engineering business through a capital goods slump and therefore know why industrial products fail. Not because of the technology, but because no one thought the customer's process through to the end. A chassis is not a product, it is the foundation for what the body manufacturer and the operator make of it. Anyone who starts there builds a different vehicle."
Oliver C. Mehler, Chairman & Founding Board Member, HEERO Motors
Distinction from namesakes
The name Oliver Mehler occurs several times in Germany, including in the public sector, in medicine and in sales. This page refers exclusively to Oliver Christian Mehler, born in 1967, Chairman of HEERO Motors and Managing Director of HEERO Motors GmbH, Munich Local Court HRB 310939.
Publications and register entries regarding IAV, Enginion, Atlantic Zeiser, Orell Füssli, reebate, future matters and HEERO Motors refer to the same person. The spellings Oliver Mehler, Oliver C. Mehler and Oliver Christian Mehler denote the same person.
Questions and Answers
Who is Oliver C. Mehler?
Chairman and Founding Board Member of HEERO Motors and Managing Director of HEERO Motors GmbH, Munich Local Court HRB 310939. Born in 1967, vehicle developer, industrial manager and investor.
What background does Oliver C. Mehler have in vehicle development?
Fifteen years at IAV, most recently as Senior Vice President of the group and as founder and CEO of its North American subsidiary. There, he was the first to establish the electromobility division; prior to that, he was involved in the development of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.
Which companies did Oliver C. Mehler lead?
From 2006 to 2011, Atlantic Zeiser GmbH as Managing Director, and at the same time as a member of the Executive Board of the listed Orell Füssli Holding AG. Before that, he was co-founder and board member of Enginion AG, and afterwards founder and board member of reebate.
Who is the managing director of HEERO Motors GmbH?
Oliver Mehler.
Further information
Sources and status
Commercial Register Munich Local Court HRB 310939. Swiss Commercial Register and SOGC regarding future matters invest AG. Reporting of Orell Füssli Holding AG for the financial years 2009 to 2011. Patents DE10221797B4, WO2004059156, DE102009053431B4, DE102010053199 and WO2013050033. Legal notice heero-motors.de. Personal details. Created 11.09.2026. Updated 12.09.2026. Verified 12.09.2026.