The third largest passenger car maker in the country, Tata Motors Ltd has appointed Timothy Leverton as head of its engineering, research and development (R&D) division.

Apart from looking at the passenger cars, buses and the CV division, Leverton will also be responsible for the R&D developments at the subsidiaries of the company, Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Ltd and Hispano Carrocerra. Debasis Ray, spokesman for Tata Motors said confirming the development that Leverton, who was group engineering director at the UK-based JCB Group has joined the home-grown automotive company on the 5th of April.

Ray further highlighted the fact that Leverton will be based in Pune and report to Prakash M. Telang, managing director, India operations.

Notably, after the appointment of Carl Peter Foresster as the CEO of Tata Motors, the appointment of Leverton as the R&D head comes as the second expatriate appointment to join the firm in the short-run. Industry experts are of a view that keeping in mind the global ambitions of the company, it makes a lot of sense to hire expats at the heads as they bring on to the table a lot of global experience.