Tata Motors appoints Marc Llistosella as new CEO and managing director

Tata Motors has appointed Marc Llistosella as the chief executive and managing director of the company effective 1st July 2021, the company said in a statement. Llistosella replaces Guenter Butschek whose five year tenure is coming to an end later this month. Llistosella was most recently the President and CEO of Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation and Head of Daimler Trucks in Asia. He was earlier the MD and CEO of Daimler India Commercial Vehicles. 

"I am delighted to welcome Marc to Tata Motors. Marc is an experienced automotive business leader with deep knowledge and expertise in commercial vehicles over his illustrious career and has extensive operational experience in India. Marc will bring this experience to take the Tata Motors Indian business to even greater heights,” N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Motors Limited said in a statement. Commenting on his appointment Llistosella said, "I am delighted to become a part of the unique Tata family. Having been bonded to India for so many years, a new exciting chapter is now opened. We would jointly awaken the potential of Tata Motors."

“Butschek has informed his desire to relocate to Germany at the end of the contract for personal reasons. He has kindly accepted the request of the Board of Tata Motors to continue as the MD & CEO till 30th June 2021,”  the company said in a statement. "I would like to thank Guenter for leading Tata Motors successfully over the last 5 years," Chandrasekaran said.

Under Butschek’s leadership, Tata Motors has seen a steady improvement in the once ailing passenger vehicle business. It has now firmly established itself as the third largest PV maker replacing archrival Mahindra and Mahindra.

Led by a strong festive season, rural pick up and preference for personal mobility, the PV business posted its highest sales in last 33 quarters. In the past one month, Tata Motors has outperformed the market as its shares rose 67 per cent on better operational performance. Analysts say the company saw continued volume recovery in both businesses in Q3FY21.

Butschek was working out of his home country since last March due to the pandemic and returned to India early last month. He joined Tata Motors on 15 February 2016 after company’s two-year long and expansive global search. The chief executive’s position at the firm had been vacant since the demise of Karl Slym on 26 January 2014 during a visit to Thailand. In the absence of a CEO, the erstwhile Tata group chairman Cyrus P. Mistry had been overseeing the top function at the automaker through a steering committee formed in February 2014.

Butschek, who came from Airbus with a reputation of a turnaround expert, had the onerous task of turning around the fortunes of a company that had seen domestic passenger car sales and market share roughly halve in the previous two years, with profit held up mainly by Jaguar Land Rover.