Car India – August 2019

SinanÖzKÖK

President,nissanMotorIndiaPrivateLtdandDatsunIndia

RajeevchaBa

MaRtinSchwenK

President&MD,MGMotorIndia

MD and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India

RajeevChabaisatthehelmofoneofthe

latestentrantsintheIndianautomotive

space:MorrisGaragesorMGMotorIndia.

However,heisa familiarfigureinautomotive

circles.Previously,heworkedatGeneral

Motors(GM)India,havingjoinedthecompany

in1995,andwentontotakeonthemantleof

PresidentandMDfrom 2005 to2007.Chaba

hasalsoheldprominentpositionsintheSAIC-

GMcoalitionabroadasVice-president

(MarketingandSales)atSGMinChinafrom

MartinSchwenktookoverRolandFolger’s

officeon 1 november 2018 buthasbeenpart

ofMercedes-Benzsince1992.Hehasan

engineeringdegreefromtheUniversityof

Stuttgartandhaspursuedadditionalcourses

infinanceandbusinessmanagement.Hehas

over 25 yearsofexperienceinvariousmarkets

aroundtheglobe,includingGermany,South

Africa,Austria,andtheUnitedStates.Priorto

hiscurrentrole,SchwenkwasatBeijing

Mercedes-BenzSalesServiceCoLtdaschief

2011 to2013.HewasalsotheChairmanand

MDofGMnorth Africa and Egypt and Director,

Sales and Marketing, at GM Japan. He holds a

master’s degree from the IIM, Bengaluru.

With the launch of the Hector, MG Motor

India have made their presence felt. The car is

rather popular because the first batch has

already been sold out and bookings have

been temporarily stopped. Things will

become more interesting as MG have decided

to bring the ZS EV to India as well.

financial officer and played an indispensable

role in the success of Mercedes-Benz in China.

Mercedes-Benz have established

themselves well in India. It is evident from the

number of new cars they have launched over

the past year. These include the CLS,

Maybach, C-Class, E-Class, V-Class, and AMG

S 63 Coupé. We can also expect the new GLS,

A-Class, CLA, GLA, GLB, GLC, and GLE in the

near future.

Inhisnewrole,SinanÖzkökwillbe

responsibleforallfunctionsinIndiaincluding

salesandmarketing,researchand

development,andmanufacturingforboth

nissanandDatsun.Earlier,hewastheMDat

nissanOtomotivA.Ş.(nOAS),nissan’s

nationalsalescompanyinTurkey,from 2015

andheoversawa significantgrowthinTurkey

fornissan.

Özkök’scareerbeganin 1993 withRenault

andsincethenhehasamassed 26 yearsof

experienceinareasincludingmarketing,

dealernetworkmanagement,retail

operation,andsales.

Themostexcitingeventfornissaninthe

pastyearhasbeenthelaunchoftheKicks

SUV.Goingforward,nissan will be working

for a bigger market share and will be banking

on new launches, including the Leaf EV. They

will also focus on doubling their dealer

network in India.

Meanwhile, Datsun have kept themselves

busy by providing crucial safety upgrades for

the products in their current line-up.

http://www.carindia.in August 2019 CARInDIA 125