Who was Karl Slym?

Tata Motors managing director Karl Slym died on Sunday after falling from a high floor of a hotel in Bangkok. Mr Slym was attending a board meeting of Tata's Thailand unit in the Thai capital, a company spokeswoman said.

A native of Britain, Karl Slym was hired by Tata Motors in 2012 to revive flagging sales and market share in the domestic business of India's biggest automaker, which is part of the Tata conglomerate.

An alumnus of Stanford University, Mr Slym was leading the company at a time when the auto industry was grappling with prolonged slowdown.

Mr Slym, 51, led the automaker's operations in India and international markets including South Korea, Thailand and South Africa, excluding the Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) luxury unit that it acquired in 2008.

Before joining Tata Motors, Mr Slym was executive vice president of SGMW Motors, China, a General Motors joint venture. Before that he had headed General Motors in India.

(With inputs from agencies)