Vietnamese carmaker VinFast is looking to appoint Hyundai India’s Tapan Ghosh, who is vice president and function head of sales, as its chief executive in India as it gears up to take on Indian carmakers Tata and Mahindra with its two newly launched electric sports utility vehicles.
According to two people directly aware of the matter, Ghosh has already put in his papers and is set to join the Vietnamese company’s India unit on 16 October.
The development comes nearly two weeks after the Vietnamese carmaker officially launched two electric SUVs in India, VF6 and VF7, which will compete with the likes of Indian carmaker’s Tata and Mahindra’s offerings in the ₹16- ₹24 lakh price range.
Queries sent to Hyundai India and VinFast remained unanswered till press time.
So far, VinFast Asia chief executive officer Pham Sanh Chau has been spearheading the strategy in India where the company has already set up an assembly plant in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, where it will be producing 50,000 cars initially which will be scaled up to 300,000. Vinfast has committed nearly $2 billion investment in India over the next few years.
To spearhead the competition in India, VinFast has reportedly trusted Ghosh who began his career with Hindustan Motors in 1995. Since then, Ghosh has worked in many companies which include Honda Cars, Mahindra and Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki India and Tata Motors before joining Hyundai in 2013, according to his LinkedIn profile.
VinFast’s strategy in India has been seen in contrast to Tesla who also officially entered the country in July with the launch of its showrooms in Mumbai and Delhi. While Vinfast has committed to local manufacturing and is now also looking to appoint an Indian lead, Tesla has so far kept its bid small with two showrooms and a remote leadership.
Isabel Fan, Tesla’s South East Asia director, led Tesla’s launch in India and the Asia headquarters is currently spearheading its strategy.
Experts have pointed out earlier that the foreign carmakers will need to invest in a local leadership and trust Indian names to have a successful bid in Indian market at a time when Indian carmakers like Tata Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra are intensifying competition.
“Given how Tesla is positioning itself in the Indian market, they will need executives with experience of premium cars,” Amit Kaushik, managing director at auto analytics firm Urban Science India, earlier said. “However, what has been notable is that the company has not gone for a very senior hire to drive its foray in the Indian market.”
Vinfast’s aggressive strategy to price its cars in the range of offerings being already sold by Tata and Mahindra in India was met with surprise but analysts also noted that it needs top Indian leaders to have consumers trust the brand.
Puneet Gupta, director at S&P Global Mobility, pointed out that VinFast’s sprint to the top will not be as easy.
“Customers already have inhibitions about EVs, so an added uncertainty about a relatively unknown brand in the Indian market will not make things easy for VinFast. They will have to invest heavily in leadership team and brand building, which should have ideally started along with its scaling of production,” Gupta said.
