Car India – August 2019

guRPRataPBoPaRai

MD,ŠkodaAutoIndiaPrivateLimitedandVolkswagenPassengerCarsIndia

venKatRaMMaMillaPalle

Pavan Shetty

MD and Head of Operations, Renault India

Director, Porsche India

Pavan Shetty began his innings at Porsche in

2016 and Porsche continue to wow us with a

strong line-up of beauties from Stuttgart.

Pavan’s journey to the top rung of Porsche

India dates back over 15 years in the

automotive industry, spanning various

verticals such as operations, sales, marketing

and public relations, business development,

channel development, and management. He

has worked in reputed companies such as

Castrol, Tata Motors, Ford India, and, more

recently, a stint as head of operations at

Lamborghini India.

Porsche India’s highlights for the year

include the new 911, Macan, and Cayenne

models. Up next, we may expect to see the

Cayenne Coupé make an entry, with the all-

electric Taycan following suit at a later date.

The former head of Renault India, Sumit

Sawhney, has moved to another position

withinthecompanyandMamillapallehas

takenoverfromhim.Untilrecently,hewasthe

headofRenault-nissan-Avtovaz purchasing

organization in Russia. He has an impressive

career thus far and has garnered experience in

the automotive field after working with

various Indian and international OEMs. He

will report to Fabrice Cambolive, Chairman,

AMI Region for Groupe Renault.

Other than launching revamped versions of

the popular Duster and Kwid, Renault India

have been rather quiet the past year.

Renault’s future plans include the recently

showcased Triber and a new compact SUV.

Gurpratap Boparai was appointed the MD of

Škoda Auto India Pvt Ltd (SAIPL) in April 2018

and now he also heads Volkswagen Passenger

CarsIndia.BeforetheseroleshewastheCEO

ofFIATIndiaAutomobilesLtd.

Theforthcomingyearwillbea busyonefor

BoparaibecauseŠkodawillbemakingthe

transitiontotheMQB-A0In platform. It will

appear first in the small hatchback and

compact SUV from Škoda and then in all the

cars in the Volkswagen line-up as well.

Multiple versions of the versatile 1.0-litre TSI

turbo-petrol engine are also expected. Škoda

have also been making dedicated efforts to

improve their service and after-sales across

the country.

Feature | Power Personalities

126 CARInDIA^ August 2019 http://www.carindia.in