A little less than two years after he took over as the Tata Motors Group chief executive officer and managing director, Carl-Peter Forster resigned on Friday, citing “unavoidable personal circumstances”.
Forster would, however, continue as a non-executive member on the Tata Motors board. P M Telang, MD, Tata Motors India, and Ralph Speth, CEO, Jaguar Land Rover, will represent their respective operations and will report directly to the company’s board.
The sudden move came after an eventful tenure that saw a turnaround in the company’s global operations, a huge success in new markets like China, but mixed fortunes back home in India. Forster’s exit comes at a time when the Indian auto industry appears to have hit more than a few speedbreakers, with local car sales skidding for consecutive month in August, which saw a 10 per cent decline in sales compared to the same period last year. Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors were among several auto makers to post declines in August.
Forster had joined Tata Motors in January 2010. Apart from the company’s local operations, he also oversaw its overseas units, including the UK-based luxury car brands, Jaguar and Land Rover; Hispano Carrocera SA, the Spanish bus maker whose acquisition it completed in October 2009; and the South Korean commercial vehicle venture, Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Co.
“The board respects Carl-Peter’s personal circumstances that led to this move. We would like to thank him for his contributions to the successful development of our company in his role as Group CEO and MD. We are looking forward to continue to working with him as a non-executive member of the Board,” said Tata.
Forster said he “deeply regrets” his inability to continue to perform the challenging duties of managing the thriving global activities of the Tata Motors Group, but was glad he would continue his association with the company.
Born in London, raised in Bonn and Athens and with an international resume spanning continents, the 56-year-old Forster was a global citizen, who had been operating out of a hotel suite at the Taj Mumbai. Prior to joining the Tatas, he was the head of General Motors Co, Europe, and managing director of luxury car maker BMW AG's South Africa business.
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Instead of joining General Motors in Detroit, he chose Tata Motors, which was at the cusp of a transformational journey, spreading operations internationally, after acquiring and turning around the marquee Jaguar Land Rover.
A degree holder in economics from Bonn University and in aviation and space technology from the Munich University of Technology, Forster made his name at the cult German auto brand, Bayerische Motoren Werke (better known as BMW) in the 1990s. He joined BMW in 1986 after quitting McKinsey where he had worked as a consultant since 1982.
He was head of production at BMW during its ill-fated ownership of MG Rover and Land Rover (both British brands). Forster quit BMW in 2000 when the luxury brand decided to cut “excess flab” and get rid of its “English patients”.
Like most executives in BMW who were on their way out, Forster also joined GM, then the world’s largest automotive company. Subsequently, he was given responsibility for the lengthy restructuring of Opel and Vauxhall, where plants were closed to cut costs. GM widely acknowledged the Opel brand achieved tremendous success under Forster’s tenure.
Forster’s surprise appointment at Tata Motors was aimed at making the company a global automotive brand — something Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata has been trying hard to achieve for the past few years. The first mandate was to lead the complicated restructuring process of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).
Other than the JLR restructuring, he was also responsible for the successful launch of Aria and the various variants of Indica and Indigo. Tata group officials said, other than the global push, Forster also concentrated on the operational aspects of the business in India, especially the Nano, working relentlessly with various stakeholders despite the initial bumps.
As a group, the Tatas in the last few years have seen several high-profile exits. After Rajiv Dubey of Tata Motors, Sangeeta Talwar, the former regional president, South Asia, Tata Global Beverages, also left the diversified conglomerate. Tata Steel had earlier lost its CEO in Europe, Kirby Adams. In a surprise move in May this year, Peter Unsworth, CEO of Tata Global Beverages, also resigned.