As Britain’s largest carmaker, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) owned by Tata Motors is hit hard by the pandemic, its new captain Thierry Bollore will have a hard time ensuring that they achieve the target which has been delayed by the COVID-19 outbreak and amplified existing problems with its line-up, lack of scale and bloated costs.
The former Renault CEO will take over the reins at JLR next month succeeding Ralph Speth, who will continue as non-executive chairman of JLR.
The appointment has come at a time when JLR, hit hard by the pandemic reported a significantly low sales, suffering a loss of 501 million pounds in the quarter ended March 31, 2020.
Bollore will have to face challenges to turnaround the market and drive positive cash flows in an environment of slow global growth. He is also faced with formulating plans to make deeper inroads into the growing market for hybrid and electric vehicles while concentrating on costs and profits.
Bollore is expected to bring immense expertise to JLR, with his pedigree at Renault as CEO and the senior position at Faurecia, a global automotive supplier.
Commenting on his appointment, Natarajan Chandrashekhar, Chairman, Tata Sons, Tata Motors, and Jaguar Land Rover PLC had said that an established global business leader with a track record of implementing complex transformations like Thierry will bring a wealth of experience to one of the most revered positions in the industry.
With the target of achieving 6 billion pounds in cumulative cost savings by the end FY21, JLR has a hard way to go in launching plug-in hybrid vehicles and mild-hybrid electric vehicles in order to compete with the German rivals BMW Group, Daimler AG and Volkswagen AG which are on their electrification plans.
The Frenchman will have the key responsibility of reducing the costs across manufacturing, design, steer the brand into sustained profitability with a focus on clean energy strategy, and lookout for sustainable ways to survive the continually evolving and increasingly challenging industry.