Geared for the future

The new managing director of Volvo Car Malaysia, Nalin Jain, is excited about the journey ahead.

Being in a new country is not something Nalin Jain is unaccustomed to. The Managing Director of Volvo Car Malaysia, has lived in the United States and Germany and even spent some time on our shores.

“The first time I travelled was for my education to the US way back in 1994. I lived in Buffalo, New York and got my first Master’s degree then (in Engineering from State University),” he shared with Pursuit, during a private interview at his upmarket condo in Bukit Pantai, Kuala Lumpur.

“I then went back to India, for many, many years and did consulting, but even during my work then, I travelled a lot. In fact, I was in Malaysia in 2003 doing a project for Petronas. I lived here for almost a year. I was also in Germany for projects very often, and then I went back to the US in 2009 to do another Master’s (an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at MIT, Boston). So, I’ve really been all over the place.”

With his background in finance and IT, Nalin was appointed to helm Volvo Car Malaysia in March, taking over from
Lennart Stegland who retired from the company after 40 years of service. Prior to this, Nalin was the Chief Financial Officer of Volvo Auto India and has over 20 years of experience in the automotive, consulting and technology fields. He speaks fluent English and Hindi, and can also manage several other Indian languages including Marathi, and Gujerati. He loves music, reading, swimming and cricket.

As part of his job here, Nalin hopes to create new processes. He’s excited about converging technologies, and training people. “It’s about how we can align these three things – people, processes and tech – towards our mission of achieving a very high level of customer satisfaction,” he says.

Here he shares some of his thoughts about coming to Malaysia, the delights of driving, and about creating new adventures with Volvo.

You enjoy travelling. Do you have any expectations of Malaysia?

This is my second visit, so I already knew a little bit of what to expect. The last time I was here, my stay was very restricted to Kuala Lumpur city. But this time, I am very excited because I know that it’s a very open country, and I know about the different religions, different cultures and how there’s a lot of harmony here. I had all those nice impressions from my last visit.

So I have been really looking forward to being here. I also know that you have these great beach destinations and we – my wife and I – love the ocean. We’ve already been to Redang, and we loved it. Another plus point in Malaysia is that there are a lot of vegetarian options when it comes to eating out. We have a long list of restaurants to choose from and we’re very comfortable.

Which places would you like to visit in Malaysia?

The first recommendation was Redang, and so we did that. I went snorkeling there. I love swimming and so this was a great opportunity. I would like to visit more of the East Coast and do some diving, maybe when my son (who is studying overseas) comes to visit. I have also been to Port Dickson and Penang and the waters were okay, but nothing like the East Coast.

Did you drive to these places? What do you think of Malaysian roads?

Yes! The roads are very good actually. I’m very pleasantly surprised to see the infrastructure. I think that as a nation, Malaysia has done extremely well for itself in terms of infrastructure. Most of the journey to Terengganu (on the way to Redang) was also green and that was nice. We were recently in Taiping as well, and I have been to East Malaysia. Soon after I arrived, I made it a point to visit the all the dealers. I went to Johor, Penang and Kuching. I visited all the warehouses and I have also been to the factory in Shah Alam. I wanted to see everything because I believe that seeing and experiencing everything for oneself is very important.

What do you think about the work culture here in Malaysia?

If I were to compare it with the places that I have worked in before such as India, US and Germany, it is definitely different. I think people here are a lot simpler in a sense. They respect hierarchy. Coming from Volvo — where we are now looking at being a much flatter organisation – I think we need to create more leadership opportunities and allow people to take more ownership.

But I also think people here are very dedicated and committed when they are in the work place, and they are able to focus and deliver. I think we are very lucky in that sense. We have a very energetic team.

What have you learned from working with Volvo?

As we are a multinational organisation, we follow a global culture which is very people centric. Everything that we do revolves around people. It’s also a very purpose driven organisation. For example, when we provide mobility it is done in a very personal, safe and sustainable way. These are the three factors that are very important to us, and not just for the customer but also for the people who work with us – the stakeholders and dealers – everything that we o, fundamentally relies on these principles of providing mobility in a personal, safe and sustainable way.

In the two years that you will be stationed here in Malaysia, what is on your agenda?

It’s been 90 days so far. And I have spent this time observing and understanding the market. I have a better understanding of Volvo’s presence here. It is so well known in Malaysia and that’s a huge advantage. What my predecessor has done really well is that he’s brought in some great products, which have been extremely well accepted. So what I need to do now is focus on how to achieve a premium brand image. Volvo has been here for so many years it has become a brand that one takes for granted. So the challenge is how to establish ourselves as the est. We want to focus on customer service, we want to make sure that customers feel passionate about our cars, we want the dealers to be passionate about their jobs. It’s time to ignite that passion. In your position as MD, you have to inspire many people.

Where do you get your own inspiration from?

That’s a great question. I’m a very spiritual guy. My last name, Jain, is also my religion. As a kid, I was not into religion at all. But as I started growing older, and as I started facing challenges, I realised that science does not have all the answers. That’s when my spiritual and religious aspect really helped me. It was actually in Malaysia that I was introduced to something called Soka Gakkai, a brand of Japanese Buddhism. I started practising this Buddhism since 2003 when I was about 31. And this practice has given me a lot of strength to overcome challenges.

Challenges are only opportunities to grow, and help us understand ourselves and our skills better. They enable you to take ownership of your life. I believe the same applies to work also. It’s about taking ownership of what we have to deliver. It’s also very much in line with the culture of respect. When you respect an individual, then it sparks the power within.

Do you think of yourself as an engineer, a finance or automotive person?

I think everything is very important. I see it as a whole system. I see how the dots connect together. There was a course that I did in MIT, which was called Systems Dynamics. And that was all about looking at things in loops rather than in a linear way. There was a phase in humanity, during which we always looked at creating new things – for example, plastic.

Then one day we realised that we can’t produce plastic endlessly and not dump plastic into the sea. We realised we were doing something wrong somewhere and sustainability came into the picture. Not just for the environment. sustainability is also about finance and people. It’s about balance, and how we live in a connected
environment.

Your thoughts on what comes next … autonomous cars?

We have a brand called Care by Volvo within the group, which is a service where you can get a Volvo car on subscription, for one fixed monthly cost, with no down payment. We have launched this service in the US and in Germany, and we’re looking at launching it across the board. Basically, it’s a service where you can acquire mobility without owning a car.

As technology evolves, it makes life easier for people. When we are able to converge technologies – for example, with our touchscreens, one can now access Google and Whatsapp in your cars – so if you’re spending one or two hours in your car, and if technology allows you to free up time for yourself, you can spend that time on much more value-added activities. You want to take away activities which are not value-adding, and instead do things that count. Autonomous driving will inevitably free up your time. And so we are taking steps towards that.

Are you excited about the future?

I love driving and am a very passionate driver. It gives me a sense of freedom. I think driving provides you with the flexibility to go out and explore the world. The first car I drove was a Premier Padmini (Licensed under Fiat in India and occasionally called the Fiat 1100 Delight, it was popular in the 1970s and 80s). I was 18. So while I feel that it’s great that with autonomous cars we will have that time to do more worthwhile things, it is also clear that things are changing. I remember when I was young and I couldn’t wait to get my driver’s licence. I don’t see the younger generation having that same kind of excitement. They would rather take an Uber or Grab, many don’t even know how to drive! So yes, it’s going to be very different.

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