Tata Motors CTO Leverton quits, to move back to UK

New Delhi: Tata Motors on Monday said its President and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Timothy Leverton has resigned, after nearly seven years of association with the automaker.

Leverton has decided to disengage from his services in the organisation as he wishes to relocate back to the UK for personal reasons, Tata Motors said in a statement.

He will, however, continue to remit his responsibilities till October 31, 2017.

"The successor to Leverton will be announced in due course of time," Tata Motors said.

Leverton has been associated with Tata Motors since 2010, working out of the company's Pune-based engineering research centre.

Tata Motors CEO and MD Guenter Butschek said: "It has been wonderful working with Tim during my tenure and it is indeed a loss that he has decided to leave and move back to UK for personal reasons."

He further added that Leverton actively led the research and development initiatives of Tata Motors.

During his time at Tata Motors, Leverton oversaw the development of various next-age products like Bolt, Zest, Tiago, Hexa and soon to be launched compact SUV Nexon.

Leverton's exit comes at a time when Tata Motors is undertaking a turnaround drive for its ailing domestic business, with a focus on its bread and butter commercial vehicles segment.

The company has embarked on the turnaround programme with the next 6-9 months being critical as against an earlier planned business transition to be achieved on the next 2-3 years.

Tata Motors has witnessed its market share in the CV segment decline to 44.4 per cent in March this year, from a high of nearly 60 per cent five years ago.

On a standalone basis, Tata Motors registered a loss of Rs 467.05 crore for the June quarter of 2017-18. It had registered a profit of Rs 25.75 crore in the same period of 2016-17.