Confirming Autocar Professional’s report on August 1, MG Motor India, the fully-owned subsidiary of China’s largest carmaker SAIC Motor Corporation, today officially announced the appointment of Gaurav Gupta as its Chief Commercial Officer - Customer Experience & Marketing (CEM).

Gupta joins MG Motor India from Bridgestone Tire Indonesia where he was serving as the president director. He has over 23 years of experience having headed the sales, marketing and after-sales functions across automotive companies in various countries including India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore and China. He will oversee the marketing, sales, customer delight and dealer development functions. According to the company, Gupta’s experience in handling brand, marketing and retail-focused initiatives will help it spread consumer awareness about the introduction of the MG brand in India, with its first product scheduled for launch in the second quarter of 2019.

“It gives me great pleasure to announce the appointment of Gaurav as head of the CEM function to drive customer focus in the company. Gaurav brings rich industry experience in customer-facing areas, which are critically important for success in India. With the aggressive product line-up backed up with a core CEM team in place, it makes us confident that his experience and leadership will add immense value to the MG brand in the coming years,” said Rajeev Chaba, president and managing director – MG Motor India.

Gaurav Gupta’s hiring comes close on the heels of other strategic appointments at MG Motor India. It has appointed former AVP and Operations Head at Honda Cars India, Rakesh Sidana, who has over 29 years’ experience in the auto industry, as its National Sales Head and Rajesh Mehrotra as the National Service Head. Rajesh Mehrotra, who has over 27 years’ experience, was primarily associated with Toyota where he handled the aftersales operations, apart from Hyundai where he undertook responsibilities as the National Service Head. The company has also appointed Dimple Mehta, a Hyundai veteran with an experience of 24 years, to head the newly created Customer Care & Customer Delight function.