India’s largest luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz India today, announced an organizational change in its Sales & Marketing function effective from 1st July, 2019. Santosh Iyer, currently Vice President of Customer Service & Corporate Affairs has been appointed as the Vice President, Sales & Marketing of Mercedes-Benz India. Santosh succeeds Michael Jopp who assumes the new responsibility of heading the Sales & Marketing function of Mercedes-Benz in Malaysia.
Announcing the organizational change, Martin Schwenk, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India commented,
Michael played an important role in leading the company’s Sales & Marketing functions and successfully managed critical market disruptions and headwinds over the last three years. He was instrumental in introducing new digital initiatives and his tenure saw Mercedes-Benz sustaining the number one market position and also topping the JD Power top ranking in Sales Satisfaction. We highly value his contribution for the growth of the brand in India. We are equally excited to welcome Santosh who has successfully headed multiple functions at Mercedes-Benz India, and played a key role in establishing the ‘service differentiation’ for the brand and driving customer centricity. We are confident that Santosh with his in-depth market understanding, rich industry experience and proven track record of driving excellence, will continue the growth momentum of the brand in this highly competitive and dynamic market. I thank both of them for their immense contribution to the brand and wish them the very best for their respective new roles.
Santosh Iyer has two decades of diverse experience in the Indian automobile domain spreading across sales, marketing, retail, customer service and corporate affairs. He has been associated with Mercedes-Benz India since 2009 and currently is responsible for the Customer Services, Corporate Affairs & CSR functions at Mercedes-Benz India. Santosh played an important role in driving ‘service differentiator’ as the key parameter towards achieving service excellence and customer loyalty. Under Santosh’s stewardship, Mercedes-Benz India significantly increased its Customer satisfaction scores and topped the J.D. Power CSI rankings for two years in a row.
During his earlier stint as the Head of Marketing Communications, CRM & PR; he led some of the most exciting brand campaigns and digital outreach programmes. A MBA from University of Applied Sciences Konstanz-College of Technology, Business and Design; Santosh loves playing golf, traveling and is a self-confessed foodie.
Highlights
- Santosh Iyer will take over the responsibility from Michael Jopp, who will be heading Sales & Marketing function of Mercedes-Benz Malaysia, upon successful completion of his India tenure
- Santosh Iyer is currently Vice President, Customer Service & Corporate Affairs, and played a pivotal role in curating industry benchmark Customer Service initiatives and driving the objective of the brand being the ‘Mercedes of Service’ through service differentiation in the luxury segment
- Santosh Iyer will be succeeded by Shekhar Bhide, currently Vice-President, Quality, and associated with Mercedes-Benz India for more than two decades
- The appointment will be effective from 1st July, 2019
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