Tata Motors MD Karl Slym’s passing on Sunday leaves the company with the tough task of finding a successor at a time when it is struggling to revive falling sales.

Slym was with the company for barely 15 months during which he was preparing a blueprint for the turnaround. This included new global products, honing processes and ensuring greater customer satisfaction.

Over the last year, Tata Motors’ car market-share has fallen steadily (to sub-10 per cent) due to intense competition from the likes of Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor, Mahindra & Mahindra, Honda Cars and Toyota.

With his vast experience in General Motors, hopes were high that Slym would put the house in order.

An auto industry executive, who did not want to be named, told Business Line : “Finding the right man for a company as large and diverse as Tata Motors is not an easy task. It becomes even more complicated for cars because there are not too many people qualified for the top job.”

On the contrary, things are a lot simpler for the company’s truck business, which has built a strong base over the years and is the market leader. “There are enough competent people within the Tata Motors system to take charge of its commercial vehicles unit. But cars are a different ballgame,” the executive added.

The company has been focusing on hiring people with a rich international track record to take its cars beyond India. This was the vision of former Chairman Ratan Tata, during whose tenure Tata Motors tried out a marketing arrangement for its Indica hatchback with MG Rover of the UK.

Likewise, the company forged an equity alliance with Fiat Auto keeping global opportunities for its car business in mind.

However, the big coup was snapping up British brands Jaguar and Land Rover for $2.5 billion in 2008.

At that juncture, not too many people were convinced that Ratan Tata had made a wise move, especially when JLR, like most other carmakers, faced the brunt of the global economic slowdown. Today, it is due to this acquisition that Tata Motors is able to keep its car business afloat, with JLR setting up operations in China and getting to do so in Brazil in the near future.

More importantly, JLR has some top-class people steering the company, including CEO Ralf Speth, who was formerly with BMW.

Slym’s predecessor Carl-Peter Forster, another BMW (and GM) veteran, left abruptly after a brief tenure.

Rumours had done the rounds that Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Renault-Nissan, would take charge but nothing of the kind happened.

Now, Tata Motors has to once again look for a new leader.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW