German luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz has announced that the current Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of its Indian arm, Mr. Peter Honegg will be stepping down from the position on November 30, 2012. The positions will now be filled by Mr. Eberhard Kern who will become MD and CEO effective December 1, 2012.
Mr. Honegg is stated to have taken the decision to leave due to personal and family reasons and will be returning to the Daimler Headquarters at Stuttgart, Germany a year and one month before his minimum tenure of 3 years from the position. The usual stay for an expat CEO in a market is a minimum of 3 years and Mr. Honegg’s 3 year term would have ended on December 31, 2012.
The luxury carmaker is currently in troubled waters having slipped down the ladder to the third spot below BMW at the first and Audi at the second spot even though it was the first player to have entered the Indian luxury car market among the three automakers.