51-year old Karl Slym, managing director of Tata Motors Ltd, died in Bangkok on Sunday, No reason of his demise was mentioned by the official or in the press release. Slym joined Tata Motors in October-2012, since then he had been leading efforts to revive the fortunes of Tata Motors in India and international markets including South Korea, Thailand, Spain, Indonesia, South Africa.
Mr. Cyrus Mistry, Chairman of Tata Motors Ltd. said –
“I am deeply saddened to inform you about the untimely and tragic demise of our company’s Managing Director, Karl Slym. Karl was visiting Bangkok for a meeting of the Board of Directors of Tata Motors Thailand Ltd., and passed away earlier today. Karl joined us in October-2012, and was a valued colleague who was providing strong leadership at a challenging time for the Indian auto industry. In this hour of grief, our thoughts are with Karl’s wife and family.”
Under Karl Slym’s leadership, Tata Motors has called for new products, new features and new launches, which he feelt is an urgent need to revive market share. He had advocated certain short, medium and long term measures to address these problems. In short term strategies, mild changes are called for, while new products and portfolio revision will be the long term changes that Tata Motors will be concentrating on.
In the past 14 months, Slym had made major changes in Tata Motors. The first, two new products under the leadership of Karl Slym’s was scheduled to launch on the eve of 2014 Auto Expo next-month, Falcon 4 hatch and Falcon 5 compact sedan.
(Update – Trusted sources on the web reveal, Karl Slym fell from a hotel floor in Bangkok but whether this lead to his death is still unknown.)
Also see – 6-months jail term for Tata Motors MD Karl Slym
Tata Motors appoints Karl Slym Managing Director
