The man who gave the British car industry a future

Ralf Speth, on the eve of retiring as Jaguar Land Rover CEO, looks back on 10 turbulent but ultimately triumphant years in charge of Britain’s biggest car maker. By Ken Gibson

Sir Ralf Speth tips the Defender 110 into a Warwickshire roundabout at a speed that would have put the original into the adjoining field. Just days before his retirement after 10 years’ service, the Jaguar Land Rover CEO is driving us to Eastnor Castle for a final off-roading session, and a chance to reflect on the stepchange he has led at Britain’s biggest car maker.

The former BMW executive has taken JLR from niche British player to a truly international force, delivering record sales three times greater than when he began, and more than doubling the workforce from 16,000 to circa 40,000.

He’s also launched some of the most transformative cars in the brands’ histories: the baby Range Rover Evoque and aluminium Range Rover, Jaguar’s all-electric i-Pace and the SUVs that prop up its sales, and successors to the E-Type and Defender, tasks that had flummoxed his predecessors over decades.

Speth may have transformed JLR, but the company and Britain have also transformed him. He owns a Series 1 Land Rover and two last-of-the-line Defenders, plus an XK140 roadster and an E-Type at his second home in Germany.

‘This company took over my life completely, I am so passionate about Jaguar and Land Rover,’ he tells CAR.

The softly spoken German is happier outside the limelight and focuses on the JLR team’s achievement rather than his own contribution, but the ultimate recognition came in a knighthood from the Queen for his services to the UK automotive industry. ‘It made me deeply honoured and proud.’

At first the award was honorary, but became substantive when Sir Ralf Speth took British citizenship. ‘I was working for a ⊲