Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) India today announced the appointment of Nipun J Mahajan as the new head of sales & network development for the company.

Mahajan, who has an engineering, marketing and finance background, comes to FCA with 22 years of diverse experience in retail and corporate sales, network development, sales planning and aftersales in the automotive sector. Prior to joining FCA India, he was the director and head of sales, service and planning at Harley-Davidson India. He has also been associated with brands like Volkswagen, Honda and Porsche in the past, a company release said.

Commenting on the appointment, Kevin Flynn, president and managing director, FCA India said: “I am pleased to welcome Nipun to the FCA India team. He has joined the FCA India organisation at an exciting time as our iconic SUV brand Jeep joins our Fiat passenger car portfolio in this market. His experience and energy will contribute to FCA’s planned growth and development in India for both Fiat and Jeep businesses.”

Mahajan’s appointment is the third such senior level hiring for FCA India after it appointed Rahul Pansare as the marketing head and Sushant Balsekar as the head of PR in April earlier this year.

The company, which recently launched the Jeep brand in India, plans to revamp its sales network across the country and Mahajan’s appointment as the new sales head seems like a testament to this goal.

Under the new sales strategy, the carmaker plans to formulate a multi-brand dealership model, where both Fiat and Jeep vehicles would be sold under one roof, just like many other markets globally.

FCA has been among the biggest laggards of the otherwise booming passenger car industry in India with sales of a mere 500-600 units every month. It would be interesting to see whether the new appointments and a revamped sales strategy would be enough to turn around the company’s fortunes in the country or not.

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