Priyesh Kumar joins Jeep as its brand director, Stellantis India may announce new Citroen head soon

Stellantis India has appointed Priyesh Kumar as the brand director for Jeep in the country, as part of its move to revamp top management.

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.

He joined on 22 January 2024, and will be 'looking to infuse some excitement in the iconic US brand,' which has witnessed a slide in sales over the last year, say people in the know.

An email sent to Stellantis India did not elicit any response till the time of publishing. 

Sources added that the company may also be announcing the new Citroen brand head in a few weeks.

The development happens 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.  

Prior to joining Stellantis - Kumar was with Volkswagen, as its national sales head. He was elevated to take charge of the function at VW in December 2020, having managed the dealer development role at the German car maker for almost five years. He worked for the Volkswagen brand for over a decade.

“He is a field guy who has a good understanding of the market on ground zero,  having executed different facets of sales and marketing roles in the car industry,” said one of the three people in the know.

He will have a tough task of building Jeep volumes which have slipped below 500 for over a year now. Despite the addition of Meridian and new variants on the Compass, the volumes have largely remained modest. 

The Jeep monthly volumes have dropped to fourth from the peak of around 2000 to 2,500 units a month, half a decade ago. Kumar will have to bring in his wealth of experience and galvanise the sales force to build volumes.