Fiat Group Automobile India Private Limited and Chrysler India Automotive Private Limited have appointed Nagesh A. Basavanhalli as the President and Managing Director for Chrysler and Fiat India operations. The move is being seen as a part of the ongoing efforts from the company to strengthen its presence in the Indian market. Earlier, Basavanhalli was heading the Chrysler and Fiat’s APAC Technical Center (Asia Pacific) that was located in Chennai, India.
With the newly created position, Basavanhalli will now be managing Fiat and Chrysler’s operations in India and will be reporting directly to Mike Manley, the Chief Operating Officer for APAC region. The appointment has been made effective immediately.
The current managing director of FGAIPL, Enrico Atanasio will be charged with the new responsibility at the APAC region that will be announced little later. Speaking on the Enrico’s changed objectives, Manley said that for the short term period he will be assisting Nagesh through the smooth transition of responsibilities and will be help him to integrate better with the new structure to support the continuous development of the company.
In 1994 Basavanhalli joined Chrysler and since then he has held a number of positions with increasing responsibilities in the area of engineering and product planning. He has passed his Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical engineering from Bangalore University and also holds a Master of Science from the University of Texas and an MBA from the University of Chicago Business School. Chicago Booth Business School awarded him as the “Booth India Business Leader 2009”.
Fiat has confirmed that it will be revealing its 2013 Linea and Grande Punto on 10th of April. The new Linea will come with new alloys, new interior and some change in the 1.4 Litre T-Jet power ratings.