Mumbai: Tata Motors Ltd has appointed former General Motors India head Karl Slym as its managing

director, replacing P.M. Telang who retired in June. He will lead Tata Motors operations in India, South Korea, Thailand, Spain, Indonesia, and South Africa, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. His appointment is effective 1 October. The revenue-spinning European subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will continue to be managed independently. New role: Karl Slym will lead operations in India, South Korea, Thailand, Spain, Indonesia, and South Africa. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint Slym, an alumnus of Stanford University, was earlier executive vice-president and board member at SGMW Motors, Chinaa General Motors (GM) joint ventureas well as managing director and board member of GM in India. He worked at GM in various capacities and locations for 17 years. Slyms appointment comes at a time when Tata Motors domestic operations and some of its international subsidiaries have been facing intense competitive pressures. In the three months to June, Tata Motors car and trucks sales, including exports, fell to 190,483 from 197,265 a year ago. With Tata Motors ceding ground to rival Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd (M&M) in utility vehicles and to foreign car makers in cars, analysts said it needs to modify its product planning, positioning and marketing. The new MD has a big challenge ahead, said Puneet Gupta, analyst at market research and sales forecasting firm I.H.S. Automotive. A reason why the company could have chosen Slym is to lend a sharper focus to the passenger car business where it has been lagging, said Gupta. Unlike Slym, the previous two managing directors had strong commercial vehicle backgrounds. The company needs a radical change. Slyms global exposure can help them bring products of international standards, which, according to Gupta, M&M has managed to a great extent with the XUV500, the utility vehicle it launched in September last year. Other experts agreed. Merely launching refreshes will not do, said an analyst at a consulting firm who declined to be identified. Tata Motors market share in utility vehicles dropped from 12.71% to 8.17% in the June quarter, and in passenger cars from 11.65% to 10.10%, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. Slym is the second expatriate to be brought in by Tata Motors at a top position to rev up its operations. In February 2010, it hired Carl-Peter Forster as group chief executive. Forster had earlier headed General Motors Co.s Europe operations.

With a much bigger mandate, Forsters role in the company included managing its global operations, including JLR, which Tata Motors acquired in June 2008. But in September last year, Forster quit citing personal reasons. Telang, who was Tata Motors managing director of India operations, and Ralf Speth, CEO of JLR, were representing their respective units on the board. On 10 August, addressing shareholders at the companys 67th annual general meeting, his last before he steps down in December, group chairman Ratan Tata said he was saddened and shamed that M&M had overtaken Tata Motors in the market sweepstakes.