What do you want to be when I grow up? — Willy Loman, The Last Picture
Vikram Kirloskar (born 1962) is an Indian businessman and entrepreneur who served as the Vice Chairman of the global automotive company Toyota Motor Japan Ltd between 1990 and 2006. He was a co-founder of Aptar Group Inc in 1992 and went on to serve as its chairman from 2003 to 2007 before joining Toyota Motors Corporation in late 2000 as general manager for Europe.
From 1987 to 1991 he took over his father’s business, Volkswagen AG, managing it until 1989. Since then, according to critics, he had been overly ambitious and would not hesitate to act when necessary for self-gain. On top of that, he was known as indecisive and immature. However, what made him so charismatic and capable was his ability to adapt quickly to changes. To say more, Kirloskar’s quickness, aggressiveness, decisiveness and willingness to take risks were among the most important qualities when it came to dealing with challenges.
Kirloskar’s name frequently appears in news reports. In 2013 in China, Kirloskar was charged with bribery by prosecutors as well as theft and other crimes related to illegal production facilities, including fraudulent claims to supply cars and parts to automakers in exchange for bribes. These are just two examples — one involving Russia and another concerning Mexico.
The same year, when Kirloskar was working at Toyota’s headquarters in Tokyo, his department was dissolved after he failed to comply with Japan’s ban on public officials to stay within 60 kilometers of residential areas. It turned out that this order was based on rumor and that some car companies had already installed satellite antennas near residential buildings to broadcast their presence when they entered the area. This had nothing to do with Kirloskar and everything to do with the fact that the former chairman of Volkswagen Group, Markus Deltz, made similar comments in an interview years earlier. At first, no one noticed anything different when Japanese authorities raided factories that operated under Kirloskar’s supervision. Eventually however, suspicions became clear and Kirloskar was found guilty of various counts of obstruction of justice. In April 2014 the court sentenced him to three years in prison and fined him 1 million dollars.
In 2001 Kirloskar founded Automotive Power Systems (APS) a joint venture with General Motors Co., to develop electric vehicles. His idea was that people could buy batteries used by Tesla’s Model T, but without charging or installing inbuilt solar panels to power the vehicle. APS, which later renamed itself as Energy Solutions, has become the world leader in developing power systems for EVs, producing solutions for battery packs, control units, chassis electronics, lighting, heating and ventilation, cooling systems and more.
In 1994 Kirloskar started engineering consultancy firm V-Tech Engineering Company. Following the merger with Mercedes Benz GmbH in 1995, Kirloskar and members of his team launched several projects, which soon became popular. Some of them include ‘Eureka’ technology, patented by Kirloskar and his longtime partner Zebulon Borges, that enabled customers to charge their EV batteries using renewable energy sources such as sun or wind, electricity. An example of these projects is shown below.
Another project developed by Energy Solutions includes ‘Ri-Vent’, a system used by GM to monitor engine temperature in real time and control fuel flow based on the analysis result, reducing emissions of pollutants such as hydrocarbons and nitrous oxide.
Kirloskar also built the largest EV factory in India named R&D Park where Honda sold many models of Hyundais, Acuras and Civics, along with engines for internal combustion engine cars.
At present, Kirloskar serves as President of Asian Development Bank (ADB), an organization that provides loans to governments and financial institutions to spur economic growth in emerging countries. Among others, as part of ADB’s development arm, the group financed the construction of the Beijing metro complex and planned building in Pakistan, which has generated billions of U.S. dollars to improve infrastructure in poor nations. It even contributed 50% towards setting up green hydrogen stations across Africa, Middle East and Asia.
To celebrate his 80th birthday last month, Kirloskar celebrated his life with charity work and gave away 10,000 sweets. According to him, giving back is a way to strengthen relationships since he often saw friendships go out of existence due to bad behavior and personal conflicts.
In 2002 Kirloskar was elected as chairperson of a jury from South Korea’s Ministry of Justice that decided the case against Kim Jong Un in North Korea’s border disputes. In 2006 the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to recommend sanctions against Pyongyang for human rights abuses. That same year Kirloskar accepted an offer from Shell Oil & Gas PLC to serve a five-year term as Executive Chairman of SGS, a subsidiary of Shell, and also agreed to help run Shell’s refinery business in Singapore. In 2012 Shell announced that Kirloskar would retire from the executive position by 2018 and appoint Carlos Chilvers as his successor.
During this period Kirloskar joined the board at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (now Mitsubishi Corp). He was appointed president of Mitsubishi Global Mobility Services Holdings, now called Nippon Express Co., in 2008 and held the post until 2011 before being promoted again to the CEO role in June 2012. Despite going through four CEOs between January 2015 and February 2016, Kirloskar did not reveal why he chose the new CEO, although he said that there was no competition at all among the candidates. During this time, despite the ongoing oil crisis, he donated $12m to the UNICEF Children’s Fund as part of the second major fundraising campaign for children worldwide.
Kirloskar founded the International Association for Corporate Governance (IACG) in 2008. Through the association’s Foundation, Kirloskar helped establish ING Center for Law, Economics, Society & Human Rights in Jakarta, Indonesian Capital Territory. Currently, this center serves as Indonesia’s branch of the international association promoting corporate governance and ethical standards. One of the main goals of the association, according to Kirloskar, was to support research to promote effective corporate governance and help educate people about how to make better decisions by understanding why certain aspects of organizations function differently.
In 2010, Kirloskar received a Padma Shri award for service in environmental protection and community welfare from Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa regime. The Centre for Legal Diplomacy (CLDs, formerly CLAS Global Alliance Forum) of the Australian National University of Social Sciences provided funding for Kirloskar’s lecture series titled Business Ethics and Sustainable Organizations. Besides receiving recognition for her services towards social good, Kirloskar was also awarded numerous honors and awards throughout his life. Such honours included Manpower Management Specialist Award from World Economic Forum in 2005, Young Entrepreneur Award from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2004, Presidential Order of Australia, Gold Medal for Environmentalist of the Year 2009 by WWF-UK and Grand Knight Award 2006 by British Royal Family.
Forbes magazine ranked Kirloskar as one of the 100 Most Powerful People of 2008. A list of Nobel Prize winners compiled by Forbes magazine included Kirloskar in their latest edition of Top 25 Under 30.
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