09-11-2020

The founding marketing and sales head of Kia Motor India, Manohar Bhat, is likely to end his splendid engagement with the company by next month. He drove Kia�s new brands, the Seltos and Sonet SUVs at astonishing speed in the market. Many sources in the know of things in Kia have informed ETAuto that Bhat has put in his papers within three years of working with the South Korean automaker.

Kia�s reply on this development and its confirmation was awaited till the time of uploading the story. Though many highly- placed senior executives in the auto industry affirmed the news, they preferred to remain anonymous.

Bhat had been at the helm of Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motors, the most successful automobile manufacturers in India, and of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company as its president before joining Kia Motor India in 2017. His rich management experience in vehicle business covers marketing, sales policy and sales planning, dealer development, channel management, logistics, and institutional sales.

Bhat shaped the sales strategy of Maruti Suzuki as the national head and also had stints as zonal head in charge of the western and southern zones. The soft-spoken Bhat is known for keeping cordial relationships with dealer partners, internal customers and the company peers.