Kia’s India senior VP Hardeep Singh Brar quits, likely to head BMW India
BMW’s current India president Vikram Pawah is expected to move to a global role.
Hardeep Singh Brar, senior vice president and head of marketing and sales at Kia India Pvt. Ltd, has resigned and is likely to join as the next India president of German luxury carmaker BMW, according to two people directly aware of the matter.
Brar’s decision was announced to the head of departments at the South Korean company last week, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
“BMW’s current India president Vikram Pawah will move onto a global role. Brar will be taking on the role soon," the first person cited above said.
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BMW India declined to comment. Queries emailed to Kia India on 7 June remained unanswered.
Mint could not independently verify Brar’s last day at Kia. However, the second executive said the transition should happen in the next few weeks.
"Hardeep's diverse experience with key automakers such as Maruti, VW, and Kia will support BMW in expanding into deeper markets over time, particularly as the company gears up for potential product diversification into more cost-effective EV segments under expected FTA with Europe. This strategic shift will require increased engagement with Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India, moving beyond the current focus on metros and Tier 1 cities," Bhavna Kaushik, co-founder of Abuzz Consulting, an automotive focused executive search firm from New Delhi, said.
Brar, who joined the Korean carmaker in March 2021, has been in the industry for nearly three decades after starting off as the deputy manager of sales at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd in Chandigarh. He has been part of Volkswagen Group, General Motors India, Nissan Motor Corp. and Great Wall Motor Co.
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It is unclear who will replace Brar at Kia, which is part of South Korean conglomerate Hyundai Group.
Pawah, who became the India president and chief executive officer (CEO) at BMW in 2020, is said to be moving within the BMW Group to take on a global role. He was previously the CEO of BMW Group Australia and New Zealand.
In a career spanning three decades, Pawah was with Honda Group and Harley Davidson before joining BMW in 2017, according to his LinkedIn profile. It is unclear whether Pawah will head another global unit or be part of the global management team at the Munich-based automaker.
In an interview with Mint earlier this year, Pawah had said that a key plank of growth for the luxury carmaker will be electric vehicle (EV) sales. BMW’s total EV sales of 646 cars from January to March accounted for 17% of its overall sales of 3,914 cars in the country.
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BMW’s push in the segment comes when there is a slowdown in the global electric vehicle market.
“Many players had set some unrealistic expectations regarding transition to EVs in a short period, which is why there is some disappointment about the pace of adoption," Pawah had said.
The change of guard at the foreign carmakers comes when the Indian auto sector is going through a rough patch. In the financial year 2025, the country’s car market grew 2% to 4.3 million.
Kia India’s retail sales rose 7% to 241,859 units in FY25. BMW, the country’s second-largest luxury carmaker, recorded retail sales of 14,966 units during the year.
The luxury car market grew just 3% to 51,000 units in FY25.
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