Tata Motors executive dies after falling Bangkok hotel room

Karl Slym, managing director of India's biggest automaker Tata Motors , died after falling from a hotel room in Bangkok in what police said today may have been suicide.

Slym (51) a British citizen, had attended a board meeting of Tata Motors’ Thailand unit in Bangkok and was staying with his wife in a room on the 22nd floor of the Shangri-La hotel.

Hotel staff found his body yesterday on the fourth floor, which juts out above lower storeys of the complex. “We didn’t find any sign of a struggle,” a police spokesman said.

“We found a window open. The window was very small so it was not possible that he would have slipped. He would have had to climb through the window to fall out because he was a big man. From my initial investigation, we believe he jumped.”

Police found a three-page note, written in English to Slym by his wife, which they were translating into Thai. An autopsy on Slym’s body was conducted today, police said without elaborating.

A spokeswoman for Tata Motors declined to comment on the possible cause of Slym's death.

A company statement yesterday said Slym had provided leadership in a challenging market environment. Slym was driving a turnaround in the company’s domestic operations.

Investors worried about potential delays to these plans after his death sent shares in Tata Motors down as much as 6.7 per cent today in a broader market that fell more than 2 percent. The stock ended 6 per cent lower. "He had been given a sort of free hand. For another professional to step in and enjoy the same confidence, with this same management, is difficult, it will take time," said Deepesh Rathore, director of Emerging Markets Automotive Advisors, based in Gurgaon, India.

Slym was hired in 2012 to revive Tata's flagging sales and market share in India, the world's sixth-largest auto market by unit sales. Tata Motors is part of the sprawling software-to-steel Tata conglomerate. "His death comes at a time when the company seems to be close to turning the corner," said Anil Sharma, an analyst with researchers IHS Automotive. "It comes before his efforts bear fruit. We should be able to see the results in a year or two."

Tata Motors recently introduced a new petrol engine for its passenger vehicles and was planning to launch a hatchback and compact sedan this year, the first all-new Tata-branded passenger vehicles since 2010.

Reuters