Jaguar Land Rover CEO Thierry Bollore steps down for personal reasons without elaboration.
Just about a week ago I was in the midst of researching an article about Jaguar Land Rover’s future. In it I was going to talk about the excitement and possible disappointment around the company’s transformation under their somewhat new CEO Thierry Bollore. Today news has come in that Mr Bollore has in fact resigned his position at Jaguar Land Rover!
Why Did Thierry Bollore Resign?
There were no explicit reasons for Thierry Bollore’s resignation, but the man himself says that the reasons are personal and not related to the company itself. We will have to accept that for now.
The Frenchman joined Jaguar Land Rover as the company’s 2nd CEO after Sir Ralph Speth’s ten year tenure came to an end. Prior to joining Jaguar Land Rover, Bollore served in Renault for years before joining Jaguar Land Rover. However he was dismissed from his role there due to his management style and overuse of external consultants. Neither Jaguar Land Rover now its owners Tata Group have commented on Thierry Bollore’s resignation. He only lasted in Jaguar Land Rover 34 months and during the British luxury carmaker’s accelerated transition towards an all-electric fleet. Under Bollore, the iconic Jaguar XJ model was scrapped late in its development.
Is the Jaguar Land Rover transformation in trouble?
Temporarily, Jaguar Land Rover will be put under the care of Adrian Mardell, the company’s CFO who has served in the company through its various iterations from 1990. For now, the company ought to be in good hands.
However there are a number of worries. First is whether Thierry Bollore’s plan for Jaguar Land Rover’s electrification will be carried through or not. The man gave Jaguar until 2025 to become fully-electric while also pushing Land Rover to offer at least 6 all-electric options by the same year. This is a rather aggressive stance considering Jaguar Land Rover only has 1 battery electric vehicle on offer right now and it’s not even built in-house.
The second worry is whether his decision to cancel the XJ should be reversed. The Jaguar XJ has been the brand’s flagship since 1968. If the S-Class, 7-Series, A8, S90, and LS can still make a case for themselves, why can’t the XJ?
Of course there may be countless other worries that we’re not privy to, like whether Jaguar Land Rover can indeed become the world’s most profitable car company by 2030. Land Rover itself is doing quite ok thanks to products like the Defender. Jaguar, on the other hand, is still on shaky ground with an ageing sedan lineup and SUVs that just aren’t doing as well as their rivals’.
