Who could Jag Land Rover’s next boss be?
JAGUAR Land Rover boss Ralf Speth is set to step down from his role as chief executive in September prompting speculation as to who his successor might be.
Several publications have discussed the subject, including Automotive News Europe and the Financial Times.
Mr Speth’s departure was announced in January this year.
The Coventry car maker confirmed Mr Speth would leave his role after 10 years in charge to become a nonexecutive vice chairman of the business.
The 64-year-old engineer, who will turn 65 on September 9, has been chief executive since 2010, when Tata purchased the business from Ford.
Over the past decade, Jaguar Land Rover has expanded by growing its model range and driving into new markets, with new production plants in China, Slovakia and Brazil.
More recently the car maker has faced challenging times.
The coronavirus pandemic has hit the automotive sector hard but even before that Jaguar Land Rover had its challenges.
Since the beginning of 2019 it has axed thousands of jobs due to slowing sales and embarked on a massive costcutting programme.
According to the Financial Times three senior German automotive industry executives are being considered for the top job at Jaguar Land Rover, along with the car maker’s current head of engineering. The FT said recently retired BMW development chief Klaus Froehlich is in the running to head Jaguar Land Rover, along with former Audi CEO Bram Schot and Fred Schulze, head of production at Audi.
The paper said that Nick Rogers, Jaguar Land Rover’s head of engineering is also being considered.
A decision is expected to be made imminently.
The FT said Tata Motors was close to naming Mr Speth’s successor.
The report added: “It has whittled down candidates to a shortlist of one possible internal successor and a handful of outside executives, according to multiple people with knowledge of the process.
“Nick Rogers, JLR’S engineering director, is the only internal candidate, while recently shortlisted candidates include former BMW executive Klaus Frohlich; former Audi chief Bram Schot; and Fred Schulze, head of Audi’s sport-utility vehicle production at Ingolstadt, Bavaria, according to multiple people briefed on the process.
“Tata Motors declined to comment on the names but said the company had established a committee in January to “work with the chairman to identify a suitable successor in the coming months”, adding that “the search process is on”.”
Regarding the speculative list of candidates the FT goes on to say that Mr Speth’s continuing involvement in the business could influence the decision-making process.
It said he has worked closely with Mr Rogers at Jaguar
Land Rover and knows Mr Frohlich from his time at BMW.
Mr Frohlich recently left BMW after missing out on the top job there, which went to Oliver Zipse.
The FT said Mr Schulze is considered “a safe candidate” who would improve JLR’S production quality and reduce its warranty costs.
It said Mr Schot, a former Mercedes-benz and Volkswagen executive, joined Audi in 2017, taking over as boss a year later but left the company in April.