Jaguar Land Rover appoints ex-Renault chief, Thierry Bolloré, as new CEO

Former Renault CEO Thierry Bolloré has now been appointed as the new CEO of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).

He will replace Sir Ralf Speth who took the reins of the British carmaker in 2010.

Speth announced his intention to retire from that role in January this year, and will assume the position of non-executive vice chairman of JLR after Bolloré begins as CEO on September 10, 2020.

“I am delighted to welcome Thierry to Jaguar Land Rover. 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 Sons, Tata Motors and JLR.

The carmaker, owned by India’s Tata Motors, increased its savings target for the year to GBP2.5bn ($3.3bn) after booking a GBP413m pre-tax loss for the quarter that ended in June.

After slashing thousands of jobs, JLR said in June that it would reduce capital spending by about 25 per cent.

While the company expects sales, profitability and cash flow to gradually improve, it cautioned in a statement that its outlook remains “very uncertain” due to Covid-19.

“It will be my privilege to lead this fantastic company through what continues to be the most testing time of our generation,” said Bolloré who was ousted from his role as CEO of Renault in October 2019 and has worked previously at Michelin and Faurecia.

Tata Motors wrote down its investment in JLR last year by $4bn. Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the parent’s credit rating in June and has a negative outlook on both firms.

With inputs from Bloomberg