Stellantis has appointed Priyesh Kumar as the brand director for Jeep in India, as part of its move to revamp top management. Kumar is set to take charge from the first week of February.
The development takes place close on the heels of elevating Aditya Jairaj to the position of MD of Stellantis India, who is setting up an experienced top deck to drive future growth for both Citroen and Jeep brands in the country. Sources told our sister publication Autocar Professional that the company may also be announcing the new head of the Citroen brand in India in a few weeks.
Priyesh Kumar was formerly Volkswagen India’s sales head
In a career spanning over 27 years, Kumar, a sales and marketing veteran in the auto industry, has worked for brands such as Eicher Motors, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors. Prior to joining Stellantis, Kumar was with Volkswagen India as its national sales head. He was elevated to take charge of the role at VW in December 2020, having taken on the role of managing dealer development at the German carmaker for almost five years. He has worked for the Volkswagen brand for over a decade.
Kumar will have a tough task of building Jeep’s volumes in India, which have slipped below 500 units for over a year now. Despite the addition of the Meridian SUV and new variants on the Compass, sales have largely remained modest.