[AMG Power]

Vikram Pawah gets dual responsibility at BMW - Chairman of BMW India + CEO of BMW Australia and New Zealand

German luxury automaker BMW today said it has appointed its India head Vikram Pawah as CEO of BMW Group Australia and New Zealand with effect from August 1. Pawah (47) has additionally been promoted as the Chairman of BMW Group India and will remain committed to the Indian market in his expanded role, BMW Group India said in a statement.

Hans-Christian Baertels (56), currently Director, Finance and Administration, at BMW Group India will take over responsibility as the acting President, it added.

Source

[GTO]

Wow! Congrats to him. This is unprecedented - I can't think of any other Indian auto CEO who has simultaneously led a manufacturer in 3 countries.

Quite an eventful three years for him. Up until 2015, he was the Operating Head of Honda India. Then came Harley & BMW.

[SmartCat]

Isn't it unusual to appoint one person as MD/CEO of company operations in countries that are 8,000 kms apart? Appointing somebody as MD/CEO of contiguous regions like South Asia or Middle East or ASEAN is normal though.

[veedub89]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Isn't it unusual to appoint one person as MD/CEO of company operations in countries that are 8,000 kms apart? Appointing somebody as MD/CEO of contiguous regions like South Asia or Middle East or ASEAN is normal though.

Yup my thoughts exactly!

But for India he is the Chairman(of the Board, I assume), which would in essence reduce his involvement in the day-to-day activities of the company and will shift to being an advisory sort of role. Or maybe even like a mentor to the company in India. I am speaking purely from the perspective of having my grandfather as the Chairman of the Board in my own company and my basic understanding of standard hierarchal structures followed by corporates. I may be wrong.

At the same time he may be more involved in the Australia/New Zealand area as he will be working there as a CEO. So he could be more hands-on in that territory.

[AbhiJ]

Originally Posted by GTO

Wow! Congrats to him. This is unprecedented - I can't think of any other Indian auto CEO who has simultaneously led a manufacturer in 3 countries.

Quite an eventful three years for him. Up until 2015, he was the Operating Head of Honda India. Then came Harley & BMW.

Met Mr. Pahwa at a BMW M Event and he was driving with all the participants.

Very impressive guy.

However, does this mean that inevitably, BMW is reducing its focus on India? They need to give Mr Pahwa more time and resources to claw back some market-share which they have lost over the years.