Mercedes-Benz India announced that it has elevated Santosh Iyer to the Managing Director & CEO role. Iyer succeeds Martin Schwenk, who has taken responsibility as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Mercedes-Benz Thailand.
Iyer, who is currently serving the company as Vice President Sales & Marketing, has been associated with Mercedes-Benz India since 2009. With more than two decades of diverse experience in the Indian automobile industry, Iyer has worked across sales, marketing, retail, customer service and corporate affairs. In 2016, he took up the responsibility as Vice President, Customer Services & retail training business. Iyer, 46, is the youngest and the first Indian to lead the operations of the German carmaker in India.
He played an instrumental role in the turnaround of the Customer Services business, successful implementation of new initiatives like MB Tyres, Parts Trading and setting up of the Mercedes-Benz Academy.
During his tenure of heading sales & marketing, the company said that he has laid a strong foundation for data analytics and pioneered online sales, with its share exceeding 15% of total sales. Graduate in Commerce from Mumbai University, Santosh is an MBA from the University of Indianapolis and holds a Masters in Corporate Governance and Compliance from the University of Lake Konstanz, Germany.