All you need to know about Tata Motors chief Karl Slym

FP Staff Jan 27, 2014

Karl Slym, managing director of  Tata Motors Ltd, died on Sunday after falling from a high floor of a hotel in Bangkok. Slym, 51, had attended a board meeting of Tata's Thailand unit in the Thai capital, a company spokeswoman said, giving no further details. A post-mortem report is due on Monday, she said.

Following the news of Slym's death, Tata Motors fell more than 3 percent in the opening trade.

Here's what you need to know about Karl Slym:

• Karl J Slym was born in Derby, central England, and graduated in 1984 from his post-secondary education in production engineering at the city’s University. He started his career as a general manager at Toyota, before moving to GM in 1995. He held various roles with the US carmaker in locations including in Poland, Germany and Canada, notes a Bloomberg profile of him.

• A native of Britain, Slym was hired in 2012 to revive flagging sales and market share in the domestic business of India's biggest automaker, which is part of the Tata conglomerate.

• Expressing condolence at the sudden demise of Slym, Tata Motors Chairman Cyrus P Mistry said: "I am deeply saddened to inform you about the untimely and tragic demise of our company's Managing Director, Karl Slym." Slym was visiting Bangkok for a meeting of the Board of Directors of Tata Motors Thailand Ltd, he said. "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," he said.

• A Firstpost profile of Slym notes that he was that corporate rarity: easily accessible, witty and almost self deprecating. He used to take mutiple barbs of scribes about GM's tepid performance in India with equanimity, admitting that the Chevy brand had miles to go before it could aspire to greater volumes.

• Slym led the automaker's operations in India and international markets including South Korea, Thailand and South Africa, excluding the Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) luxury unit that it acquired in 2008. Slym "was providing leadership to the company through a challenging market environment", the company said in a statement on Sunday.

• Slym sought to reposition the failing Nano as a “second car” after buyers shunned the $2,300 compact pitched as an inexpensive alternative to motor scooters. “Karl was beginning to make long-term changes at Tata Motors,” Vikas Sehgal, managing director for the automotive sector at Rothschild & Sons in London, told Bloomberg.“His loss will be felt deeply by Tata Motors.”

• He was deeply interested in India, its car market and its movies. A profile Forbes magazine did of him in May last year lists his interests as travelling, bollywood and cricket.