Tata Motors, India’s largest automobile company by revenue, is not keen on filling the Group CEO spot vacated by Carl-Peter Forster, saying the existing management would oversee operations, even as it charts international and domestic expansion plans.
The 56-year-old German quit the Mumbai-based company after 18 months on the job, citing personal reasons. He was overlooking the operations of Jaguar Land Rover, besides restructuring and enhancing Tata Motors’ joint venture with Fiat Auto in India.
“We are not looking for a Group CEO right now,” said a Tata Motors’ spokesperson, when asked if the company was looking at a replacement for Forster, who was also managing director of the company.
Forster was also chairman of the loss-making 50:50 Tata-Fiat industrial joint venture company, Fiat India Automobiles. In addition, he monitored decisions on new marketing and promotional initiatives for the Nano small car.
“Forster had a rich experience of the automotive industry and his mandate was to take the Tata Motors brand global. With his exit, the international brand exposure may not reduce and neither will its expansion plans, but Forster’s aggressiveness and dynamism may be missed,” said a Delhi-based auto sector analyst.
Prior to Forster’s appointment, Tata Motors’ vice-chairman, Ravi Kant, oversaw operations at JLR and was also credited for its successful turnaround. Under Forster, Tata confirmed two new satellite plants in India and China and integration of production facilities in the United Kingdom.
With Forster’s exit, Prakash M Telang, managing director of India operations, will assume charge of all activities of Tata Motors in India. He has been also monitoring Tata’s operations in Thailand and South Africa. Ralf Speth, who reported to Forster, will continue as chief executive of JLR. Abdul Majeed, leader for the automotive practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said: “As long as you have a succession plan to take forward, you should be able to manage. The company has been established and the exit of Forster won’t have a significant impact on Tata Motors.”
Under Forster Tata also began the process of integrating JLR’s technology into its own models, such as those seen in the Aria and the to-be-launched Safari (new). Additional impetus was laid down on promotion of alternative fuel technology like hybrids and electric power at JLR.
The Fiat joint venture, however, still lags and has failed to generate the results projected earlier.
Forster took charge of the JV after Kant, who was its chairman, stepped down. Efforts are underway to further restructure the JV in areas such as marketing and distribution, both of which were managed by Tata Motors but would now be under Fiat.
