FY2024 has started on an active note, especially in terms of management changes across Auto Inc. What’s interesting to note is that a vast majority of the announcements were from the two-wheeler industry.
The first of many announcements came on March 31, when the country’s largest two-wheeler player Hero MotoCorp announced the appointment of Niranjan Gupta, currently Chief Financial Officer, as the new Chief Executive Officer from May 1.
On the same day, Piaggio Vehicles India appointed Ajay Raghuvanshi as the Executive VP for its two-wheeler business. In his last stint, he was with Skoda India (Volkswagen Group) as Head of Sales, Planning, Used Cars, Training, and Corporate, where he steered the brand to a 6X growth path.
Then came the news from the Japanese automakers – Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI), Suzuki Motorcycle India, and an unexpected surprise from Isuzu Motors India.
At HMSI, Tsutsumu Otani, who was the VP at Honda Motor Co., Japan, took over the responsibility of the President, CEO & MD of Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India succeeding Atsushi Ogata.
Over at Suzuki Motorcycle India, Kenichi Umeda succeeded Satoshi Uchida as the new Managing Director (MD) of the company.
And the biggest surprise was Isuzu Motors India appointing for the first time in its operations a person of Indian origin to lead its operation in the country. Rajesh Mittal was announced as the successor of Wataru Nakano, as the President of Isuzu Motors India (IMI).
Bajaj Auto also had a new position announced at its subsidiary Chetak Technology. The company roped in the former Vice President Engineering X-House eDrives at Robert Bosch, Dr Christian Danz as the new Chief Technology Officer.
In the component space, Lumax Group CEO, Vineet Sahni decided to call it a day due to “personal commitments” after leading the company successfully for a decade.
The Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) also announced leadership change, with Anshuman Singhania, MD, JK Tyre & Industries elected as the new Chairman and Arnab Banerjee, MD & CEO of CEAT as the Vice-Chairman respectively.
In the global EV space, Dr Andy Palmer, who has been associated with big names like Nissan Motor Co, Aston Martin Lagonda, Ashok Leyland and Switch Mobility, joined a UK-based start-up Ionetic as its Chairman.
In fact, if this is any indication of the things to come, expect plenty of action in the automotive industry as it goes through a transformational disruption not only through technology but also through people-led strategy.
