Santosh Iyer appointed as the Head of Sales and Marketing at Mercedes-Benz India

German premium car manufacturer Mercedes Benz has appointed Santosh Iyer as the Head of Sales and Marketing for its India operations. Santosh will take over the responsibility from Michael Jopp, who will be heading sales and marketing function of Mercedes-Benz Malaysia. Santosh Iyer has two decades of experience in the Indian automobile industry where he has worked in sales, marketing, retail, customer service and corporate affairs. His association with Mercedes Benz India started in 2009 and is current responsible for the customer services, corporate affairs and CSR functions at Mercedes-Benz India. The company mentions that  Santosh played an important role in driving service differentiator as the key parameter towards achieving service excellence and customer loyalty. Additionally, he was instrumental in significantly increasing the customer satisfaction scores of Mercedes-Benz India and topping the J.D. Power CSI rankings for two years in a row. The appointment of Santosh Iyer in his new role will be effective from July 1, 2019

"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" commented, Martin Schwenk, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India

He further added, "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."

In other news, Mercedes Benz unveiled the flagship SUV - the GLS for the model year 2020. The Mercedes Benz GLS is the S-class luxury sedan equivalent SUV. The updated SUV has grown in size - courtesy a new platform, however, stays in proportion. The length has been increased by 77mm and the width is up by 22mm. The wheelbase of the new GLS SUV has been extended by 60mm. The new GLS features a carwash function which folds in the ORVMs, shuts side windows and the sunroof, suppresses the rain sensor information, switches the climate control to the air-re-circulation mode and, after eight seconds, activates the 360-degree camera front image to assist the driver when driving into the carwash.