Johannesburg — Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles South Africa are continuing to invest in the staff needed to grow their market share and expand their business in all the right areas. Central to this strategy is the appointment of Lex Kriel as Sales Director.
Kriel is a sales and operations leader with over 16 years of experience in building scalable, commercially successfully OEM businesses within the automotive sector.
Kriel brings a strong commercial and strategic acumen to the role along with a proven ability to build, lead and develop high performance teams, complemented by deep OEM and dealer-level experience.
“My career has been shaped by the experience I gained launching brands and products, strengthening dealer networks, leading high-performance teams and delivering growth in complex competitive and often declining markets,” says Kriel.
As a father of two, Kriel believes that fatherhood has shaped his leadership philosophy profoundly. “Becoming a father has reinforced the importance of accountability, clarity, patience, empathy and building organisations that are sustainable, resilient and future focused.”
Kriel looks forward to leveraging his extensive experience to drive Tata forward by focusing on delivering scalable, sustainable growth that is anchored in strong people, disciplined execution and clear market relevance.
“This will start with building and enabling a profitable, capable and engaged dealer network, supported by structured performance management, data-led decision making and aligned incentives. I believe that growth follows when partners are healthy, confident and supported,” adds Kriel.
Kriel also looks forward to ensuring that product positioning, pricing and the customer experience are aligned to local market realities while remaining consistent with Tata’s global standards and purpose-led ethos.
“I am excited to build momentum and shape how the brand is experienced at a retail and customer level, unlocking growth through people while contributing to a story that is still being written in this market,” says Kriel.
“I look forward to delivering growth in a competitive, value driven automotive landscape while balancing aggressive expansion with dealer sustainability and profitability. I am excited to build brand trust, consistency and customer confidence and adapt to evolving consumer behaviour, digital retailing and electrification trends,” adds Kriel.
While he has many long-term plans, in the short to medium term Kriel aims to strengthen and optimise Tata’s dealer network, setting them up for long-term performance and increased brand visibility, relevance and trust in key market segments.
“I think it is very important that we drive consistent improvements in sales, retail execution and customer experience. It is also very important to build a high-engagement, accountable sales culture in order to position Tata for sustainable, profitable growth rooted in purpose and people,” concludes Kriel.
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