Harley Davidson undergoes major management shuffle
Harley Davidson, US based motorcycle company’s Indian operations is currently undergoing a major shake-up in its top management with almost every key role witnessing a change in the past year and half.
Vikram Pawah, earlier the Chief Executive of Harley Davidson motorcycles India had quit the company to find a new role in BMW India. The heads of Sales, Marketing and Dealer Development have quit the company in the past year and so leaving Harley Davidson in a desperate situation to find new replacements.
Harley Davidson had appointed Rajeev Vohra as the Head, Sales, a couple of years back only to find him move to the Landmark Group, an automotive dealership enterprise. His replacement Nipun Mahajan did not last long either leaving Harley Davidson for better opportunities with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. With already, two Heads of Sales quitting the company in the past 18 months, the US motorcycle company is currently hunting for the third head to join its line-up.
Navneet Banka, who headed the Dealer development, has joined Trax cycles and, very recently, head of Marketing Pallavi Singh has left the company to join MG Motor, a subsidiary of China’s largest car maker Shanghai Automotive.
All these switch overs have left a major void in Harley Davidson’s Indian operations and Manish Agarwal, the Chief Finance Officer of the company in India has been offered the role of Country Manager and has also taken over the responsibility as Head, Sales.
In response to these recent shake ups witnessed, Marc McAllister, Managing Director of International Markets at Harley responded by saying that India is an important market for the company.
“We have a talented and passionate team in India capable of supporting our dealers in attracting new riders and nurturing relationships with current customers. We are confident we’ll continue to lead with our powerful brand and incredibly talented India team,” McAllister told the media.
With the implementation of GST and arrival of other major two wheeler brands into India, Harley Davidson needs to find its right foot in India before it finds itself annihilated by the competition.
[Source: Economic Times]
