He will also serve as Ashok Leyland’s Executive Vice Chairman
Switch Mobility Ltd, the electric subsidiary of auto giant Ashok Leyland, has brought on industry veteran Andy Palmer as its unit’s CEO and the group’s Executive Vice Chairman. He will be taking on the roles from July 1.
This was announced during the formal launch of a combined EV operation of Ashok Leyland and its British EV arm Optare to secure a leading global position in net zero carbon buses.
A new leadership team has also announced the decision to leverage the legacy manufacturing and innovation capabilities of Ashok Leyland and Optare, according to a statement.
Some notable hires that have been made on the team include Nitin Seth as Chief Operating Officer, Sarwant Singh Saini as Chief Planning Officer and Roger Blakey as Chief Technical Officer. Further leadership appointments will be announced shortly.
Dheeraj Hinduja, Chairman of Switch Mobility, said: “Hinduja Group is focused on providing the needed thrust to our ongoing initiatives in the rapidly growing zero-carbon mobility sector. This is orchestrated through combining the advanced engineering and development skills in the U.K and India to address the demand in global markets. I am confident that with Andy Palmer at the helm, we will accelerate our vision to be at the forefront in this field soon.”
Palmer has extensive experience in the automotive industry spanning over 4 decades. Prior to joining Switch, he served as the COO of Nissan and President and Group CEO of Aston Martin Lagonda.
“We embrace the ethos of a start-up and enjoy the legacies of intellectual property, borne from more than a decade of technical expertise and engineering experience, that is already revenue-generating and delivering for our customers. I’m delighted to have become part of the Executive Leadership team and believe we have all the required ingredients to become a leading global e-bus and e-truck player, trail-blazing the way to zero-carbon public transport,” said Palmer.
The company said that its potential has been enhanced through technological collaboration with partners including Siemens to deliver e-mobility solutions that already offer the lowest Total Cost of Ownership for CV customers in India.
As part of its ramp-up, Switch has already signed customer agreements with leading logistic operators and secured orders for a 2000-strong e-LCV fleet with customer trials starting this month.
