IT CAME AS shocking news for the industry and the country alike. Vikram Shreekant Kirloskar, who led Toyota Kirloskar Motor as the automaker's head for over two decades, died of cardiac arrest on November 29. He was 64.
Vikram Kirloskar was involved in the operations of multiple Kirloskar Group companies in India and he played an instrumental role in bringing Toyota to India. He was a fourth generation member of the Kirloskar Group and had been vice chairman at Toyota Kirloskar, headquartered in Bengaluru, since 1998. He did his schooling at Lawrence School, Lovedale in Ooty and was a graduate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He spearheaded a joint venture partnership with the Toyota group in 1997 and started a major automobile manufacturing industry in India. After the Suzuki merger with Maruti Udyog in 1982, it took another 18 years for a Japanese brand like Toyota to begin local production in the country. The first product to be launched under the Toyota brand in India was the highly successful Qualis MPV in 2000.
This story is from the 1st December 2022 edition of Autocar Professional.
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This story is from the 1st December 2022 edition of Autocar Professional.
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