Chennai, India – Royal Enfield Motors, manufacturer the iconic Bullet motorcycle line and the world’s oldest motorcycle brand, today announced the appointment of Dr. Venki Padmanabhan as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer.
Dr. Padmanabhan first joined royal Enfield two years ago, acting as COO under marketing wizard CEO R.L. Ravichandran. During that time, the company posted a 21% growth in sales volume, 54% growth in sales turnover and a return to two digit profitability. As CEO of Royal Enfield Motors, he reports to Siddhartha Lal, Managing Director of parent company Eicher Motors Limited.
Prior to joining Royal Enfield, Dr. Padmanabhan, a citizen of the United States and an Overseas Citizen of India, was Managing Director of Chrysler’s South East Asia Global Sourcing Office based in Chennai, India and responsible for $1B of material sourced to its parent manufacturing units in the United States.
“Dr. Padmanabhan has already proven to be an outstanding leader for Royal Enfield while working alongside R.L. Ravichandran as company’s Chief Operating Officer,” said Kevin Mahoney, President of Classic Motorworks, Royal Enfield’s United States distributor. “His world-wide experience in the automotive industry and passion for bringing new life to historic brands make him the ideal candidate to build on the success from recent years and continue Royal Enfield’s growth as global brand.”
About Dr. Venki Padmanabhan
Dr. Padmanabhan started his career at General Motors at the Warren Technical Center in 1989, where he specialized in advanced manufacturing research, product engineering, and plant manufacturing. Dr. Padmanabhan was first introduced to Lean Manufacturing in 1999 at GM’s Buick City Assembly Plant in Flint, Michigan and later helped restore the Cadillac brand to its former glory at the company’s Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant, which produced the revitalizing CTS, SRX and STS models. In 2004 Dr. Padmanabhan joined DaimlerChrysler Corporation, where he was part of the team that introduced Lean Manufaturing to the company’s diverse operations and lead Chrysler Corporation to achieve double-digit, industry-leading productivity improvements. Based on that success, Mercedes Car Division drew Dr. Padmanabhan to Stuttgart, Germany in 2006, where he reported to Vice President of Production Planning, Simon Boag and delivered productivity improvements to Component, Powertrain and Assembly plants around Germany.
Dr. Padmanabhan received his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 1991, and holds a M.S. in Engineering Management from the University of Pittsburgh and a B.S. in Mechanical (Automotive) Engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology in Ranchi, India.
