Pratap Bose is the Vice President, Global Design at Tata Motors. Pratap has been with Tata Motors for 14 years and has changed the way people think about the brand through his design leadership. He has also been instrumental in changing the look of the cars to make them more appealing to the public.
Wiki/Biography
Pratap Bose was born in Mumbai in 1975 (45 years old in 2020). Pratap grew up in Mumbai and graduated in Industrial Design from the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad in 1998. Pratap’s love for car design began when he saw a Mercedes Benz 280 SEL outside the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai. In 2001, Pratap won a scholarship from the Inlaks Foundation and entered the Royal College of Art for postgraduate studies.
appearance
Hair color: Black
Eye color: Black
Profession
Pratap was pursuing a degree at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, and was working at the Tata Motors factory in Pune during an eight-week summer internship. He first met Ratan Tata while on a factory tour to review the Tata Indica, which was being designed at the time. Since the project was not done in-house, the model of the Tata Indica was flown in from Italy. After graduating from NID, Pratap did not get a job at Tata Motors, but was offered a job by Piaggio in Italy, which was willing to enter the Indian two-wheeler market at the time. He went to Italy to learn about the design and development process while trying to overcome the language barrier. The six-month stay was extended to two and a half years as Piaggio invited him to join the design team as a senior designer. He studied at the Royal College of Art in the UK for two years and completed his postgraduate degree in art and design in 2003. He applied for Tata Motors, but was unable to find a job as the automotive industry was going through a difficult period at the time, and eventually landed a job at Mitsubishi in Japan.
Pratap Bose working at the Mercedes-Benz studio in Japan
At the time, Mitsubishi was working with DaimlerChrysler and soon the two companies parted ways. During the breakup, Pratap followed his boss Olivier Boulay, who was the vice president of the Advanced Design Center of Mercedes-Benz Japan. In 2006, Olivier and Pratap went to Delhi to attend the CII conference where he gave a speech. At the dinner after the conference, Pratap approached Ravi Kant, the managing director of Tata Motors, and expressed his desire to work at Tata Motors. A few months later, he received an email from Kant’s office, who asked him to fly to Mumbai for a 30-minute meeting with Mr. Ratan Tata, and Pratap agreed. At the age of 31, he sat with Ratan Tata in his office and explained to him the strengths and weaknesses of the company’s design and how he could help them improve it. Later that evening, Ratan Tata invited him to work at Tata Motors’ technical center in the UK. Pratap’s career at Tata Motors began in 2007 and in 2011, he was appointed the head of design. Since then, he has been designing cars, trucks and buses for Tata Motors.
Pratap Bose and Mr. Ravi Kant, Managing Director of Tata Motors
Facts/Trivia
- Pratap Bose applied for Tata Motors twice but due to various reasons he was not selected each time. Working in Tata Motors was Pratap Bose’s dream.
- In his free time, Pratap enjoys painting, cooking, learning new languages and playing drums. He also loves airplanes.
- He is also Visiting Professor in Vehicle Design at the Royal College of Art in London.
- Pratap Bose and his team are responsible for launching IMPACT Design 2.0. This is the new design policy that all their new cars like Nexon, Harrier etc are based on.
Pratap Bose sketch of the Nexon in 2013
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education