Santosh Iyer

Santosh Iyer is the Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India. He has been associated with Mercedes-Benz since 2009 in various leadership roles. At Mercedes-Benz Santosh directs the company’s India market strategy, curating future growth roadmap, strategizing market expansion and building strong foundation for a future ready vibrant and diverse organization.

Prior to his appointment as the MD & CEO, Santosh was the Vice President, Sales & Marketing of the company. He successfully led the company’s digital transformation, establishing online sales and steering it to a sustainable growth during the pandemic. Santosh was pivotal in conceptualizing and implementing ‘Retail of the Future’ business model, with India as one of the first markets within Mercedes-Benz AG, to have successfully implemented this model in 2021. Santosh’s earlier stint in the company had been with Customer Services, Corporate Affairs & CSR functions, where he drove ‘service differentiation’ as the key parameter for achieving service excellence and customer loyalty.
Santosh started his career with Avery India Ltd. His entrepreneurial ambitions later took him to Nepal, for distribution and servicing of capital equipment. Setting up a successful business there, he moved back to India, joining Yamaha Motors. He had management stints at Indian subsidiaries of global automotive MNCs like Toyota and Ford, prior to joining Mercedes-Benz.

A Graduate in Commerce from Mumbai University, Santosh holds an MBA from University of Indianapolis and a Masters in Corporate Governance and Compliance from the University of Lake Konstanz, Germany.