Head Honchos Of Indian Car Makers

[Nairrk]

Santosh Iyer to take over as Managing Director, CEO, Mercedes-Benz India from January 1, 2023

Mercedes-Benz India today announced that Santosh Iyer, currently Vice President- Sales and Marketing, will succeed Martin Schwenk as the Managing Director & CEO of the company. Martin will take the new responsibility as the President and CEO, Mercedes-Benz Thailand. Both these appointments will be effective from January 1, 2023.

Santosh Iyer has been associated with Mercedes-Benz India since 2009 and has been at leadership roles across diverse functions including Sales, Marketing, Customer Services, Communications and CRM. In 2016, he took up the responsibility as Vice President, Customer Services & Retail Training business. Santosh took over as the Vice President, Sales & Marketing since July 2019, successfully leading Mercedes-Benz’s digital transformation of the business. During his tenure of heading Sales & Marketing, Santosh laid a strong foundation for Data analytics and pioneered online sales with its share exceeding 15% of total sales.
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[350Z]

Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers has elected Vinod Aggarwal (CEO, Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles) as its new President for 2022-23. He succeeds Kenichi Ayukawa (Whole Time Director, Maruti Suzuki).

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[350Z]

Mercedes-Benz India has announced that Lance Bennett will be appointed as the Vice President, Sales and Marketing from 01 Feb 2023. He will succeed Santosh Iyer.

Lance is currently associated as the General Manager and Company Director, Mercedes-Benz New Zealand, responsible for Sales, Marketing and After Sales Support for Passenger cars.

He has successfully grown the Mercedes-AMG business in New Zealand and also oversaw the implementation of Retail of the Future in the country.

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[350Z]

Saurabh Dalela has been appointed as the Director of International Center for Automotive Technologies (ICAT).

In his new role, Saurabh will be responsible for all the current automotive certification / CMVR compliance. He has been in the industry since 32 years and worked for brands like Toyota, Daewoo, GM, New Holland, JCB.

Saurabh has also contributed strongly in the National Automotive Testing R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRIP) in setting up world class facilities in the country and has also been the Director ICAT from 2007 to 2009.

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[Nairrk]

Jaguar Land Rover India appoints Rajan Amba as their new Managing Director

Jaguar Land Rover India has appointed Rajan Amba as its new Managing Director, with effect from 1st March 2023. Rajan Amba will join JLR from Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, where he is currently the Vice-president of Sales, Marketing, and Customer Care. He will replace Rohit Suri, who will retire from JLR and his last day will be on March 31, 2023.

Commenting on his new role, Rajan Amba said, “I have immensely enjoyed my stint at Tata Motors and look forward to the next one at Jaguar Land Rover - iconic automotive brands, which I hugely admire. I keenly look forward to working with my new team at Jaguar Land Rover India and steering forward our future growth strategy.”

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[350Z]

Hemant Bakshi has been named as the new CEO of Ola Mobility, with an aggressive growth focus on ride-hailing, financial services, logistics, and e-commerce. He will replace Bhavish Aggarwal.

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[350Z]

Nissan India has appointed Saurabh Vatsa as Managing Director w.e.f April 1, 2024. He succeeds Rakesh Srivastava, who retires on March 31, 2024. Saurabh will report to Frank Torres (President, Nissan India Operation).

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[350Z]

Honda Cars India announced that Mr.Ryuto Shimizu has assumed the office of Director, Marketing & Sales from 1st April 2024.

• He assumes the role previously held by Mr. Yuichi Murata, who has moved to Honda Mexico as President.
• Mr. Shimizu has been associated with Honda for over 25 years. He has worked across several international markets during the span of his career including Japan, China, Thailand.
• He has worked across the domain of marketing & sales including product planning, overseas operations, business planning, among others.

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Skoda Auto Volkswagen India has appointed Abbey Thomas as the first country head of Bentley Motors w.e.f January 2025. He will report to Jan Bures, executive director of sales, marketing, and digital (SAVWIPL).

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[350Z]

Aditya Jairaj, the former Managing Director & CEO of Stellantis, has joined the Nissan Motor Corporation as the Regional Vice President North East Region.

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