By Aditi Shah
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Vikram Kirloskar, vice chairman of Toyota Motor Corp’s India unit, died of a heart attack on Tuesday, the company said. He was 64.
A veteran of India’s automobile industry and a “passionate engineer”, according to his Twitter profile, Kirloskar was instrumental in bringing the Japanese carmaker to India. Toyota’s India unit is a joint venture with Kirloskar Group.
Messages of condolences poured in on Twitter from India’s business community and government officials who remembered him fondly for his gracious personality and contributions towards transforming India’s auto industry.
“He had world class vision to bring the best to India. A clear mind and a great heart,” said Uday Kotak, chief executive of Kotak Mahindra Bank and Asia’s richest banker.
“His efforts have tremendously helped Bharat to move towards cleaner and greener fuels. This is a deep personal loss to me,” India’s road transport minister Nitin Gadkari said on Twitter, using the Sanskrit name for India.
A strong advocate of climate change, Kirloskar had played a key role in introducing Toyota’s hybrid technology in India while also building a supply chain for electrified components in the country.
Toyota is rebooting its strategy in India by doubling down on hybrids, a technology it has pioneered with the Prius, even as some other automakers look to make a direct transition to battery electric vehicles (EVs).
A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Kirloskar enjoyed playing golf, traveling and cooking.
(Additional reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by Kim Coghill and Bernadette Baum)
