Cross-Channel Job Hunt: Fired by Renault, Former Boss Lands at Jaguar Land Rover

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

An Indian-owned British automaker is about to land a French boss.

On Tuesday, Jaguar Land Rover parent Tata Motors announced the hiring of Thierry Bolloré, former CEO of Groupe Renault, as the automaker’s new CEO, replacing the retiring Sir Ralf Speth. The new boss arrives on September 10th.

Bolloré was ousted from his perch at Renault last October as the automaker sought to clean its upper ranks of Carlos Ghosn disciples. The executive’s firing came three days after he reportedly called for an independent audit of alliance partner Nissan’s internal probe into the fallen alliance boss.

“An established global business leader with a proven track record of implementing complex transformations, Thierry will bring a wealth of experience to one of the most revered positions in the industry,” said Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Motors, in a statement.

Jaguar Land Rover’s outgoing CEO won’t depart the company entirely. Rather, Speth will assume the role of non-executive vice-chairman of Jaguar Land Rover. His knowledge might prove useful as Bolloré grabs the tiller in seas made choppy by market forces beyond any one CEO’s control.

“Jaguar Land Rover is known around the world for its peerless brand heritage, exquisite design and deep engineering integrity. It will be my privilege to lead this fantastic company through what continues to be the most testing time of our generation,” Bolloré stated.

Testing is right. Even before the pandemic sunk revenues and boosted expenses worldwide, JLR was struggling to respond to the sudden market shift not just away from traditional passenger cars, but away from diesel propulsion — which formed the backbone of the company’s European fleet.

SUVs and electrification are what the company needs to succeed in that rapidly changing market, as well as in places like China, and Speth helped guide the automaker in that direction.

[Images: Lutsenko_Oleksandr/Shutterstock, Jaguar Land Rover]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • SuperCarEnthusiast SuperCarEnthusiast on Jul 28, 2020

    Former CEO of Groupe Renault, gets a new start at JLR as CEO! That how the CEO merry a go round works! I hope he does a great job, coming from a Range Rover Sports owner!

  • Tassos You can answer your own question for yourself, Tim, if you ask instead"Have Japanese (or Korean) Automakers Eaten Everyone's Lunch"?I am sure you can answer it without my help.
  • Tassos WHile this IS a legitimate used car, unlike the vast majority of Tim's obsolete 30 and 40 year old pieces of junk, the price is ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS. It is not even a Hellcat. WHat are you paying for? The low miles? I wish it had DOUBLE the miles, which would guarantee it was regularly driven AND well maintained these 10 years, and they were easy highway miles, not damaging stop-go city miles!!!
  • Tassos Silly and RIdiculous.The REAL Tassos.
  • Lostboy If you can stay home when it's bad out in winter, then maybe your 3 season tire WILL be an "ALL-SEASON" tire as your just not going to get winters and make do? I guess tire rotations and alignments just because a whole lot more important!
  • Mike My wife has a ‘20 Mazda3 w/the Premium Package; before that she had a ‘15 Mazda3 i GT; before THAT she had an ‘06 Mazda Tribute S V6, ie: Ford Escape with a Mazda-tuned suspension. (I’ve also had two Miata NAs, a ‘94 & a ‘97M, but that’s another story.) We’ve gotten excellent service out of them all. Her 2020, like the others before it, is our road trip car - gets 38mpg highway, it’s been from NC to Florida, Texas, Newfoundland, & many places in between. Comfortable, sporty, well-appointed, spacious, & reliable. Sure, we’d look at a Mazda hybrid, but not anytime soon.😎
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