Tata Motors Chairman to Head Company for Now

Tata Motors Ltd. says Chairman Cyrus Mistry will run the company until it can find a replacement for Managing Director Karl Slym, who died in Thailand last week in what police describe as an apparent suicide.

Mistry will chair a committee to oversee operations and strategy and conduct new-product and engineering review meetings, according to the company.

Slym died on Jan. 26 after falling from a 22nd story window of the Shangri-La hotel in Bangkok. He had been named head of Tata Motors two years ago and ran all company automotive operations except for its Jaguar Land Rover unit.

Tata has struggled to revive its car business in India, where sales are down 37%. Slym is credited with leading an effort that saw the company's sales and profits grow more than 20% in the first half of the current fiscal year.