About the Speaker: Thomas Alex

Mr. Alex is an alumnus of IIFT from the batch of 2007. He has remarkable experience spanning over
two decades in leading sales functions in major automobile companies. He has formerly worked in
Tata Motors and Ford Motor Company, handling diverse aspects of the sales and marketing domain
such as dealer accounts and retail and corporate sales. He is currently the General Manager-
National Sales for Mercedes Benz India, a company he has been a part of for the past 11 years.
With his diverse experience in leading and managing sales channels across multiple areas, Mr. Alex
has unique insights into automotive sales and corporate leadership within the Indian market.
Recent Highlights about the Company and Industry
Mercedes Benz India is a highly recognised name in the automotive space and is currently in the
news for launching Marketplace, an online platform where customers can directly sell their pre-owned
cars or trade them against other vehicles on offer in the portal. The company plans to play a key role
in the C2C marketplace by evaluating cars and facilitating sales in a way that offers greater scalability
for franchise partners and enhances the online penetration of the company’s pre-owned car business.
Mercedes-Benz has also been active in the electric cars market and has recently launched the EQS
Electric Sedan Europe. Mercedes-Benz India launched EQC in India in 2020, and plans to launch the
next batch of EQC models of electric vehicles in India by September 2021, as it is quite upbeat
about the prospects of India’s EV market.
● The impact of Covid-19 has been drastic for the automobile industry, resulting in the 10-year
CAGR slowing to about 2% between 2011 to 2021, while the CAGR for the previous
decade stood at 13%
● However, leading automotive consultants believe that there is nothing fundamentally wrong
with the sector and resurgence is possible with economic recovery
● Leading automotive players have embraced digital transformation to lead strategic recovery
in sales and customer relationships
● KPMG has identified key trends in the industry such as increased preference for personal
mobility, online marketing, digitization of processes such as doorstep test drives, and
growth of subscription models
Potential Lines of Questioning
● Speech-based questions preferred by relating to the aforementioned developments
● Potential questions about how the senior leadership has responded to the fluctuating curve of
the pandemic’s impact in terms of developing strategic decisions for the organisation (The
pandemic has been progressing at an unpredictable pace, with dips and peaks in its impact,
and how the leadership has incorporated agility in decision-making to deal with this
fluctuation).
● India’s challenges with the pandemic have not always been in alignment with the
developments in major Western markets where Mercedes-Benz has a strong presence and
base. How has the leadership of Mercedes-Benz India aligned the strategies of global and
local interests of the organisation in view of this disparity?