Karl Slym: An eventful life cut short

Karl Slym was chosen to head Tata Motors' operations because of the things he'd accomplished; he'd set much in motion to address the firm's minuses

Karl Slym, who died in Bangkok on Sunday, joined Tata Motors as the managing director in 2012. He was responsible for all its operations, in India and abroad.

Slym was hired by former Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata and present chairman Cyrus Mistry from General Motors China; he was executive vice-president and board member there.

Slym's experience as president, managing director and board member of General Motors in India was the main draw for the Tatas. Slym was credited with making a success story of GM's India operations. When he took over at GM India in October 2007, the US parent had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It emerged from there in a record 45 days. Old timers say Slym himself had earned industry praise for the way he handled the crisis, with an energetic campaign reassuring dealers and customers that the India business would not be impacted by the Detroit crisis.

Thanks to his management, the India operations of GM rode the demand boom, with a flurry of launches and a new plant in Talegaon, Maharashtra. The Stanford alumni and a Sloan fellow was also known for his wit and cheerful demeanour.

A Briton and Indophile, Slym has previously worked with Toyota in the UK and General Motors for 17 years in Canada, Poland, India and China.

He served as the chief of GM's India unit between 2007 and 211, before moving to China for about a year as the executive vice-president of a GM joint venture company. However, at the request of Tata, Slym returned to India to head Tata Motors' domestic and global businesses (except Jaguar-Land Rover).

The company was battling low sales and the "cheap car", the Nano, was a non-starter. Slym's main task was to launch new products and make Nano a success. By 2015, he planned to launch a slew of products to take on the competition, such as Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai, which had flooded the Indian market with attractively priced small cars.

Insiders said his death would impact these launches and the Nano relaunch.

In an earlier interview, Slym said India was the seventh country in which his wife, Sally, and he had lived. "I found when you arrive in a country, it would normally take a week or two to acclimatise. It took longer in India - there were more things to get used to," he told this newspaper in 2009.

A sports enthusiast, Slym played cricket and rugby in school but it was at rowing that he "became most reasonable". "It was a good sport but hard. If I sat in a boat now, I'd probably last about three minutes before I expired," he had said. Sally, he said, loved India and was a collector of saris. "I think it's the most elegant piece of clothing a woman can wear."

But cars have been a defining part of their lives: They met because of an automobile incident. At 19, Slym had crashed his car.

"It was a write-off, so I went to the insurance office. The lady who was going to sort it out was someone I thought was very nice-looking. Eventually, after a long while of working on my insurance claim, we ended up going out together and getting married."

To celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, the Slyms took off to the idyllic island of Lombok, near Bali, Indonesia. Slym was also a scuba diver and placed a giant concrete heart commemorating the event in a reclaimed coral reef.

Despite being a Briton, he learnt to speak German. He was posted in several parts of Europe.

"Englishmen are very lazy about languages. Our best foreign language is English. We think if we speak slowly and loudly, 'H-e-l-l-o, I'm K-a-r-l', everything will be understood," he'd joked to this newspaper.