Beginning on January 1, 2023, Santosh Iyer will serve as the Managing Director and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India. He currently serves as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Mercedes-Benz India. Martin Schwenk will take on new responsibilities as the President & CEO of Mercedes-Benz Thailand beginning on January 1, 2023, and Santosh will succeed him.
Martin Schwenk began working for Mercedes-Benz India on 1 November 2018 and had a fantastic time there. He plays a key role in laying the groundwork for the company’s future by revamping the retail business model and fostering a flat, open, and people-focused organizational culture.
Description of Santosh Iyer
Santosh Iyer, age 46.
Director of Sales and Marketing at Mercedes-Benz India
Currently serving as Vice-President of Sales & Marketing for Mercedes-Benz India, Santosh Iyer. Since 2009, he has served in a variety of leadership capacities across multiple departments within Mercedes-Benz. Santosh has more than 20 years of broad automotive industry experience in India, including expertise in sales, marketing, retail, customer service, and corporate affairs.
In July 2019, Santosh was named Vice President, Sales & Marketing. He effectively oversaw Mercedes-transition Benz’s business to digital technology, maintaining the company’s market dominance and developing online sales. In managing the company and guiding it to profitable growth during the epidemic, he displayed exceptional leadership. He then played a crucial part in developing and putting into practice the “Retail of the Future” business model, which has become an industry standard. Santosh pioneered internet sales, which currently account for more than 15% of all revenues, and built a solid basis for data analytics during his current tenure.
Santosh headed the Customer Services, Corporate Affairs, and CSR operations at Mercedes-Benz India from January 2016 to June 2019 prior to taking up his present position. With the successful implementation of new initiatives including MB Tyres, Parts Trading, and the Mercedes-Benz Academy, he significantly contributed to the recovery of the Customer Services company. Additionally, he promoted “service differentiator” as the primary variable for obtaining service quality and client loyalty. Mercedes-Benz India greatly improved its Customer satisfaction levels under Santosh’s direction, and the company topped the J.D. Power CSI rankings for two years running.
He oversaw some of the most interesting brand campaigns and digital outreach initiatives during his first tenure as the Head of Marketing Communications, CRM & PR. His main achievement was changing Mercedes-Benz’s image into one that young Indian consumers seriously evaluated when making purchasing decisions. He has played a key role in developing the AMG performance brand in India as well as the EQS brand more recently.
Santosh began his professional career with Avery India Ltd, and as his entrepreneurial aspirations developed, he traveled to Nepal to serve the automobile industry while also distributing and maintaining capital equipment. After establishing a prosperous business there, he made the decision to return to India and join Yamaha Motors India, staying in the automobile industry. Before joining Mercedes-Benz India, he then held a number of management positions at various Indian subsidiaries of automotive MNCs like Toyota and Ford.
Santosh is a Mumbai University graduate with a degree in commerce. He also has an MBA from the University of Indianapolis and a master’s degree in corporate governance and compliance from the University of Lake Konstanz in Germany. Santosh, a genuine people person, draws most of his inspiration from Toto Wolf, the CEO of Mercedes-AMG F1.
Santosh, who is originally from Thrissur, Kerala, but who grew up in Mumbai, is a true Mumbai local at heart. He likes Indian street cuisine as much as he loves basic, true Aglio Olio, and he adores F1, golf, and lengthy family road trips.
