The boss explains why Stihl is managing electrification better than the car industry, building batteries in Romania and how he is driving the transformation of the 100-year-old company.
Stihl boss Michael Traub: “It’s not the technology that determines it, but the customer.”
Mr. Traub, Stihl sells almost twice as many cordless tools as gasoline tools in Germany. Why is Stihl, with its chainsaws, hedge trimmers and brush cutters, managing the transformation to electrification better than the auto industry?
As a family business, Stihl does not always have the capital market breathing down its neck. We don't have to immediately correct our strategy if things go bad.
What makes your strategy different from the car manufacturers?
We have never tried to electrify by force, like some car manufacturers in our area. Our maxim is: It is not the technology that determines, but the customer. Our goal is clearly dual technology leadership in combustion and battery-powered devices. But at the pace of the customers. We have never changed this strategy.
But you started with the electrical topic very late.
The reality in the market determines our strategy. From 2009 it started with hedge trimmers because they were the easiest to convert to battery operation because they required significantly less power than chainsaws. It wasn't until 2015 that the real oomph came with various battery systems for professionals. But only now, with our new battery system, is the time when petrol-powered chainsaws can also be replaced one-to-one. We no longer develop hedge trimmers with gasoline engines. They simply don't buy them anymore.
Are there no longer any performance limits for battery-powered devices?
Petrol chainsaws are indispensable in forests with large trees, such as in North and South America. We are continuing to develop this with full force. It would make no sense to force the customer to use a battery-powered device.
You don't have to fear a ban on combustion engines like the car industry.
Yes in some markets. In California there is a de facto ban on combustion engines for certain machine sizes.
But in Europe you are not threatened with regulation.
Not in the next few years. But nowhere do we sell more cordless devices than in Europe with a share of 50 percent, and in Germany even more than 60 percent. This shows that in the end it is not the regulations that matter, but what the customers want.
Stihl turned 100 this year. How has the transformation changed the company itself?
Of course, we have had gasoline in our blood for 100 years. This is how the company came into being. It was not an easy change in our minds that we will need certain skills less or no longer at all in the future.
What other influence was there?
For example, we have completely different assembly times. A cordless device takes 14 minutes to produce, which is only half as much as a gasoline device.
This means that your pressure to adapt your workforce is significantly lower than in the car and car supply industry, where only a third of the workforce is needed to build an electric drive train compared to a petrol engine.
Yes, the ratio of one to two is a little more comfortable, but unit labor costs also put a lot of pressure on us. We therefore built our new battery factory in Romania. Because we cannot economically manufacture battery-powered devices in Germany.
Michael Traub was active for the Bosch Group for two decades, primarily in the consumer goods division, including in Asia, South and North America. Before joining Stihl, he worked for investment companies in the USA. The 57-year-old economist has been running the Swabian family business since February 2022. Traub is married to an American. The couple has four children.
Stihl grew up with chainsaws. In 2025, sales rose by 2.8 percent to 5.48 billion euros. The company has more than 20,000 employees worldwide. The company does not mention the profit; the equity ratio rose from 69 to 71.2 percent. Hans Peter Stihl is still the personally liable partner. The remaining three family tribes hold a total of 86 percent of the shares equally. The rest lies with a foundation.
That probably wasn't the only consequence.
China is no longer the world's workshop, but is also the innovation leader in some future areas, such as robotics. In the future, we will build and develop our robot lawn mowers in China. For this purpose, we have set up our robotics development near Shanghai. The know-how and ecosystem for robotics are in China these days.
How many devices from your entire product range come from China?
Our factory in Qingdao, built in 2005, now produces a quarter of our global production.
Then you have the next customs problem. Can Stihl not export devices with Chinese chips to the USA at all?
We have to be careful with the USA. It's not a problem for Europe.
But that no longer has anything to do with “local for local”.
Mainly it's about costs.
Stihl has always invested a lot in Germany. Is this over?
It's not over, but it's different. We continue to manufacture our gasoline-powered professional devices in Germany. From today's perspective, this will remain the case for a long time.
Will you also bring new production to Germany?
I'm lacking imagination at the moment. Germany has a productivity problem. We can actually no longer afford the 35-hour week.
So Stihl is no longer relying on Germany?
No, the Stihl family stands by Germany and the parent company in Waiblingen. But when it comes to electrical appliances, the level of added value is completely different.
Are you forced to cut staff?
We currently see no pressure to close plants. But there won't be more. The market determines how long we sell gasoline appliances and manufacture them here.
That sounds rather bleak now.
Stihl will definitely be the “last man standing” in ten years, as the technology leader who can hold out the longest.
What makes you so sure?
Others will exit because their volumes are falling. That won't happen to us. We have such economies of scale that production will continue to be worthwhile for a long time.
Professional equipment for specialist retailers has traditionally been the backbone of Stihl. The market is different for cordless devices. It was unthinkable years ago: they now also sell in hardware stores.
When it comes to cordless tools for beginners, we also have to be where the customers are.
In the USA the pressure is certainly even higher.
Yes, but we also have more than 10,000 dealers there, 7,000 of which are pure specialist dealers.
Then why did you replace the US boss this year?
He wanted to play a different game than us.
What does that mean specifically?
Our philosophy includes specialist retailers. He wanted to generate more growth, especially through hardware stores. But we advertise in the US with the slogan “Why isn’t the world’s most successful chainsaw sold at Home Depot or Lowe’s?”
These are the two largest US hardware store chains. Why are you doing this?
In this way, we are strengthening specialist retailers as an alternative to forms of marketing that do not meet our demands in terms of advice and service for professional devices. That would damage the brand in the long term.
But you also sell in the hardware store there.
Hardware stores are good for private customers who know exactly what they want. But professionals need system expertise.
How is this to be understood?
If a municipality's building yard wants to replace its equipment fleet with battery-powered tools, then this cannot be done at the hardware store. Battery strength, running time, charging time, anti-theft protection, networking – a specialist dealer can do that better. He knows his customers. We're counting on that. We're almost religious. A year before new devices come onto the market, we test them with users around the world.
How is business going in your important US market?
We produce a quarter of our volume in the USA with 60 percent vertical integration. Nevertheless, we had to pay customs duties in the low three-digit million euro range. But we couldn't fully add tariffs to prices. After the Supreme Court overturned the tariff decisions, we got part of it back. It was a very difficult year for us in the USA. Nobody can adapt their strategy quickly enough to such back and forth.
What is your overall forecast for 2026?
We said in May that our sales would be stable. From today's perspective, we will record a slight decline in sales in the low single-digit percentage.
Besides the USA, what is the reason for the forecast correction?
The drought in European markets was one of the main reasons.
You have to explain that too.
Our business is to make tall grass shorter. And when grass and bushes dry out due to the heat and stop growing, customers also need less cutting equipment. This was the case across Europe and hit exactly the markets that contributed to growth in the previous year.
Stihl has brought a completely new generation of batteries onto the market. Arch-rival Kärcher has entered into a partnership with you in order to be able to use their 36-volt batteries (Allpro). How badly will the recall campaign in September affect you?
Our customers trust our devices because they need to make money with them. For this reason the tolerance threshold is low. That's why we act proactively and transparently when it comes to recalls, even if it costs money.
The breakdown with the new battery generation must hit you hard, right?
It wasn't a design flaw. The error occurred in a process step in pilot production in Waiblingen. We are still able to deliver. From 2027, production for Europe will then be concentrated in Romania.
How many batteries did you have to get back?
Very few. It was a preventative measure. We do not fear any damage to our image. We will massively advance the transformation to cordless devices with the Allpro batteries. We will soon be launching a cordless tool on the market that offers a similarly good ratio of power to operating weight as a comparable petrol saw. This means we can offer professionals an equivalent battery alternative. We expect this to give a boost to electrification.
How much did you invest in the new miracle battery?
Over the years, a low three-digit million amount.
Back to the question of how the transformation is changing the company. What is crucial today?
In the past, it was crucial for our developers to build the best single device. Today, when it comes to battery-powered devices, it is important to offer the best system because customers do not want to have different charging systems. That's why our cooperation with Kärcher is important. It not only brings volume for production, but also benefits for the customer. In addition to more power density and shorter charging times, a caretaker can use the same battery for his floor cleaning device as for his hedge trimmer or brush cutter.
And your job as boss?
Rethinking is a long and not easy process. My job as CEO is to maintain this pressure for change.
Can you compete against Chinese competitors in battery technology in the long term?
The Chinese are entering the market in huge quantities through the discounters. But these are not our customers for entry-level products. We are a family business with clear standards. We don't make disposable goods. We are the brand that people buy after customers are disappointed with their cheap entry-level products.
Wouldn't it be tempting to get more mass out of the brand yourself?
The world is not static. But we have to stay true to ourselves. Our brand is our most valuable asset. It stands for specialist trade, repairability, application knowledge, sustainability and system competence. If we ignore this, our customers would not take part and neither would our company.
Does the Stihl system also work on the Chinese market?
Yes, we are not active in the entry-level area either. The Chinese fire department really likes to use our cut-off machines and rescue saws. We are involved in many public tenders.
Aren't you afraid of suddenly being pushed out, as is currently happening to the auto industry?
We have been copied for decades. Perhaps we have the advantage that the technical progress we have made over 100 years is not so easy to copy after all.
Do family businesses still have a future in Germany? Subsequent generations often lose interest...
This does not apply to Stihl. I've only been here for five years, but Hans Peter Stihl as a personally liable partner and his brother Rüdiger are still present. The third generation is very close to the action with Nikolas Stihl as head of the advisory board and his cousins Karen Tebar and Selina Stihl. The family helps shape things in close collaboration with me. I feel a very high level of commitment and identification with the company.
What else are you supposed to say as a non-family manager. How exactly do you determine this?
Quite simply by what is invested and remains in the company. Putting two thirds of the total investment into battery technology is a conscious decision by the shareholders in the future.
Mr Traub, thank you very much for the interview.
