 | Home > Off Topic > Jaguar’s new chief, Thierry Bolloré, may axe models |
 
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| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018   
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And so it begins...
"Jaguar Land Rover’s new boss could slash the car-maker’s product range — even ditching its forthcoming electric XJ saloon. Former Renault chief executive Thierry Bolloré is believed to be mulling deep cuts to its line-up, with up to six current and planned models facing the axe. Bolloré, who replaced Sir Ralf Speth last month, is grappling with an array of issues at Britain’s biggest car-maker, from the economic slump to a confused mix of similar models. He also inherited a range of poor-selling Jaguar saloons. Sources said Bolloré had two to three months to make a decision on whether to continue with the electric XJ or pursue a fundamental shake-up of the Jaguar brand. He is understood to have raised concerns about persistent losses at Jaguar, which have been subsidised with profits from Land Rover. Jaguar’s flagship XJ was launched in 1968 and an armoured version is used by the prime minister. A new, battery-powered model had been due to roll off production lines at its Castle Bromwich factory in the West Midlands early next year, but that was delayed by the pandemic until next October. Bolloré is understood to be considering halting the XJ, despite JLR and its suppliers having spent tens of millions of pounds on tooling for the new car. It has limited sales prospects, with Jaguar hoping to sell 38,000 a year. Bolloré, 57, is considering ditching two more models — a Range Rover and a Jaguar SUV — that were due to be built on the same platform, or skeleton. Also at risk are its Jaguar XE and XF saloons, sales of which have disappointed, and its Discovery Sport SUV, with similar characteristics to a number of its other SUVs. That raises questions over JLR’s Castle Bromwich and Halewood plants. Model cuts would be a significant diversion from Speth’s strategy. The Bavarian was hired by Tata to turn round Jaguar after the Indian conglomerate bought the car-maker from Ford for £1.1bn in 2008. Speth steered it to record profits and sales, set a target of selling one million cars a year, and tried to take on the German giants. However, issues ranging from slumping sales in China to the US-China trade war sent it crashing to heavy losses and forced deep job cuts. Bolloré is believed to be keen to move Jaguar more upmarket to take on Tesla. He is also understood to have raised concerns about the pace of electrification at JLR, and expressed surprise about the prospect of no all-electric Range Rover any time soon. JLR said it “does not comment on speculation from anonymous sources about our business”." https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/jaguars...-zk6fc0p59 No all electric Range Rover must have been an interesting conversation with Nick Rogers. " It can't be done" says Nick, who lost out to Bollore for the top job, only for Thierry to counter "maybe I need to hire a new engineer from one of our competitors that are all making large BEV SUVs?" Waiting for him to ask "What does that bloke wearing a cravat and walking around like a emperor penguin actually do?" |
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18th Oct 2020 6:17am |
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| Bluest Member Since: 23 Apr 2016 Location: Lancashire Posts: 4219 
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Jaguar is an interesting brand. They make some nice cars. I had an XE through work for a bit and thought it drove excellent and looked smart. The F Type looks good too. I would say in general they are better looking cars than their German rivals and must be comparable to drive, but don’t seem to be able to compete on image/status. Just can’t shake off that slightly old-man image.
Land Rover on the other hand have painted themselves into a corner, which should never have happened. Moving to more and more similar models that compete with each other was bound to bight them in the end. The problem is not the number of models, but the lack of diversity. If a customer doesn’t want a premium SUV, Land Rover has nothing to offer. No other top tier car maker has such a narrow product offering. And they need to sort out their build quality and reliability (perceived and real). The best thing they could do in my view is get sold off by Tata to become part of a bigger pure auto group, like BMW or PSA, so they can share platforms and development costs more. 2007 110 TDCi Station Wagon XS |
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18th Oct 2020 8:15am |
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| Disco_Mikey Member Since: 16 Nov 2014 Location: Dundee Posts: 531  
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I've also wondered exactly this... |
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18th Oct 2020 9:11am |
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| markb110 Member Since: 22 May 2010 Location: Guildford Posts: 2647  
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Can you image the job interview....
Here is what we want you to achieve Here are the challenges This is what you have to work with Here is the budget Any questions? Wee, will you agree to my severance terms and gold plated pension. Good, I'll take the job.... |
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18th Oct 2020 9:36am |
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| Huttopia Member Since: 23 Feb 2016 Location: West Midlands Posts: 1977
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Amazing, no mention of dealing with the underlying reasons for poor sales! Insipid styling and poor build quality = poor residuals further depressing sales. Cutting the range to focus on making fewer better cars seems like a good idea, cutting the range to churn out fewer cars of the same build quality is commercial suicide.
As an aside I drive past the Morgan factory most weekends as it is next to Malvern RFC. There is some significant investment going on there, it no longer looks like an engineering workshop! |
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18th Oct 2020 10:31am |
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| seriesonenut Member Since: 19 Nov 2014 Location: Essex Posts: 1227
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All feels a bit similar to BL (but minus industrial action), too many models being produced in competition to each other etc. That cycle ended with Land Rover propping up the parent....then being sold off, sound familiar? 1984 One-Ten CSW
2010 XS USW (sold) 1957 Series One 88 diesel 1958 Series One 88 4x2 |
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18th Oct 2020 11:27am |
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| Philip Member Since: 09 Mar 2018 Location: England Posts: 510
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The new MLA platform (coming in next year’s Range Rover) is engineered for all-electric anyway. |
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18th Oct 2020 12:19pm |
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| Chris86 Member Since: 15 Jul 2014 Location: South Yorks Posts: 791 
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Discovery Sport- Unlikely to go I would have thought as it has been the most consistent seller of the Landrover Product line up for the last couple of years.
Chris |
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18th Oct 2020 2:31pm |
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| Slideywindows Member Since: 09 Sep 2016 Location: North Essex Posts: 1286
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Forgive me, but how many of us could NOT see this coming, at least three years ago?
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18th Oct 2020 5:01pm |
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| markb110 Member Since: 22 May 2010 Location: Guildford Posts: 2647
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Nothing like telling the shareholders to sell up quick just in case, don't want anyone to lose money SAAB like.....
JLR need to get back to a starting price similar to the first gen Freelander and build brand advocates, not those dipping in to the JLR brand, getting fed up then leaving. They also need a sales team that actually do more than sit around drinking coffee - what i mean by this is (and using my wife as an example), she has had a Freelander 1 three door, Freelander 1 four door, Discovery 2, Discovery 3, Evoque, Discovery Sport SD, Discovery Sport Ingenium and now a Velar. Has JLR ever once phoned her to ask if she would like to try a new vehicle or ask when she would like to change vehicles - the answer, never. In a nutshell,i think that the company has had it good for too long and now the world, in more ways than one has moved on. He is going to have his work cut out, and it will be painful. |
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18th Oct 2020 7:39pm |
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