Tata Motors will keep the managing director’s position vacant after it created a new structure wherein its three business units can operate independently under their chief executives.
The Mumbai-based manufacturer of luxury cars, sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and trucks is not looking for a replacement for Guenter Butschek, who stepped down from the MD’s position by the end of June 2021 after the completion of his five-year term. Butschek has moved back to Germany but has agreed to be a consultant to Tata Motors until the end of this financial year.
Responding to a query from Moneycontrol, PB Balaji, chief financial officer of Tata Motors, said: “Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), PV and CV are having their own CEOs for running the business quite independently. Wherever needed they come together. We have an established team which has been there for quite a while. So, at this point no such plans (of filling up the MD’s position) are there. NRC (Nomination and Remuneration Committee) and the board will decide at the appropriate time when necessary.” PV and CV are short for passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles.
While former Renault CEO Thierry Bollore was appointed as the chief executive officer of JLR as well as non-executive director of Tata Motors, Tata Motors veteran Girish Wagh was made the executive director in June 2021.
Wagh has been leading the commercial vehicle division of the company for several years. Shailesh Chandra was appointed president of the passenger vehicle business unit of which the burgeoning unit of electric vehicles is a part. Chandra, as the unit’s CEO, took over from Mayank Pareek, who retired from that position in early 2020. Bollore, Wagh and Chandra, who are part of the executive committee, report to N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Motors.
In February, Tata Motors announced the appointment of Marc Llistosella as the new CEO and MD of the company. Llistosella, who has extensive experience working in India through Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, where he was the head of operations, was set to take over from July 1, 2021.
However, a month later Tata Motors said Llistosella would not join since he is not able to relocate to India because of personal reasons. The abrupt and unexplained exit of Llistosella even before taking charge led to a leadership vacuum within the company which was emerging from the shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The last time Tata Motors faced such a situation was in 2014 when its former MD Karl Slym committed suicide, creating a void at the highest level for two years before head hunters at the Mumbai-based Tata Group zeroed in on Butschek.
Coincidently, Llistosella spent as many years (25 years) with the truck and car giant Daimler as did Butschek, who will be relocating to Germany.
Butschek’s five-year term at Tata Motors ended on February 15, 2021, but he agreed to stay on for a few months at the request of the company’s board. After the retirement of Prakash Telang in June 2012, no Indian has led Tata Motors in the position of MD and CEO.
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