Mercedes-Benz
today made an important organisational announcement. After an extremely
successful stint in India, Martin Schwenk will assume the responsibility as the
President and Chief Executive Officer, Mercedes-Benz Thailand. Santosh Iyer gets
elevated and succeeds Martin Schwenk as the Managing Director & CEO of
Mercedes-Benz India. Both these appointments will be effective from Jan 1,,
2023.
Martin
Schwenk played a key role in preparing Mercedes-Benz India for the future
transition of the automotive industry, by driving electrification and
digitization initiatives. He contributed in formulating the brand’s growth
strategy that includes market introduction of key ICE products, pioneering
luxury EV journey with the EQC, transforming the retail network strategy with
MAR 2020 retail format, and successful implementation of the ‘Retail of the
Future’ business model in India.
Santosh
Iyer, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Mercedes-Benz India commented, “I
am extremely excited with the new responsibility and the opportunity to lead
the most desirable luxury car brand in India. Mercedes-Benz is at the cusp of
transitioning to an exciting, electrified future and it is a privilege for me
to steer the brand, introduce emerging trends and continue to define new
benchmarks for our customers. We have a fantastic winning team comprising our
colleagues and Franchise Partners with proven records, and I am eager to
continue this winning story.”
Santosh
Iyer, 46, will take the new responsibility of heading Mercedes-Benz India from
1st January, 2023. Associated with Mercedes-Benz India since 2009, Santosh 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.
He
played an instrumental role in the turnaround of the Customer Services
business, successful implementation of new initiatives like MB Tyres, Parts
Trading and setting up the Mercedes-Benz Academy. Under his leadership,
Mercedes-Benz significantly increased its Customer Satisfaction scores to
become No.1 in After-Sales Service satisfaction.
Santosh
took over as the Vice President, Sales & Marketing since July 2019,
successfully leading Mercedes-Benz’s digital transformation of the business and
achieving the highest ever-online sales penetration. He demonstrated remarkable
leadership in managing the business and steering it to a profitable growth
during the pandemic. Subsequently, he also played an active role in
conceptualizing and implementing the industry benchmark ‘Retail of the Future’
business model.
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. Graduate in Commerce from Mumbai University, Santosh is a MBA from
University of Indianapolis and holds a Masters in Corporate Governance and
Compliance from the University of Lake Konstanz, Germany.