What a fascinating modern age we live in!
Iwas reminded of one of my favourite films today. You have almost certainly watched it, but probably nowhere near as many times as me. It is Master and Commander with Russell Crowe playing Jack Aubrey, a Royal Navy captain who is a traditionalist in just about everything he does but is also fascinated by the novel and the new, even if a lot of the time he doesn’t necessarily agree with it.
At one point in the film, Captain Aubrey is presented with a wooden scale model of the French privateer Acheron, a ship that is attacking him but seems impervious to the return fire from Aubrey’s cannons. His eyes widen in amazement as he sees how the hull of the French ship has been constructed and he utters the memorable lines, ‘‘That’s the future. What a fascinating modern age we live in!’’ And it was Captain Aubrey’s immortal words that came into my head as I read the latest corporate announcement from JLR.
The company’s CEO, Frenchman Thierry Bolloré, has seemingly just poached one of his old shipmates from Renault. It happens a lot in the corporate world: a new boss comes in, gets to grips with what they have inherited and then nails their colours to the mast in terms of how they want to take the company forward. And, perhaps inevitably, they decide to bring in someone they’ve worked with in the past. Someone they are comfortable with. Someone they trust who will strengthen or augment what was there when they took over.
You’ll remember that Mr Bolloré set out his impressive ambitions for the future of Jaguar Land Rover in a lengthy and fascinating video back in February, and he summed up his vision with a single phrase: ‘The Reimagining of Modern Luxury by Design’.
‘Luxury’ was a constantly recurring theme throughout the film, leaving us in no doubt about the sort of vehicles the company would be making in future, and pretty much trampling on any lingering hopes that traditional Land Rover enthusiasts might have had about the company making a proper utility vehicle, as it had done very successfully from 1948 to 2016. That job has clearly been bequeathed to Ineos.
Perhaps only second to ‘luxury’ was another important word: ‘Sustainability’. We all know this is something that every corporation on the planet needs to embrace nowadays. Or at least appear to embrace, because there are many that have been doing so in a way that is pretty lightweight. Perhaps more to do with ticking a box than making a meaningful commitment and backing it with investment and genuine commitment. This disingenuous approach is generally known as ‘Greenwashing’ but it is becoming more and more difficult to get away with, because consumers and activists are becoming better informed and more demanding.
Since February I’ve been waiting to hear more from Jaguar Land Rover and Mr Bolloré about what ‘sustainability’ will mean for the company, because I think any company that sees itself as a maker of luxury goods is going to find itself under increasing pressure to demonstrate its planet-saving credentials. Such companies must surely be aware that they can become easy targets if the public starts to have negative perceptions of the environmental price of creating their luxury products. In our digital world such views can take root very quickly indeed.
That’s why many luxury carmakers are leading the way when it comes to expressing their green credentials, whether it is in the race to create a reasonably priced EV that will appeal to the middle-market, demonstrating that they are going to deliver against the various deadlines for the banning of ICE vehicles, showing how they will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their global operations or from their new vehicle sales activities, or any number of indicators. New ones seem to appear every week.
Jaguar Land Rover has a long-term goal of net zero emissions which, it says, ‘‘drives us to look for innovative ways to improve energy efficiency and ensure efficient resource consumption’’. Their statement continues, ‘‘Since 2007, the average amount of energy used to build one of our vehicles has reduced by over a third and our UK vehicle manufacturing and product development sites have been certified as carbon neutral by the Carbon Trust’’.
One claim that impressed me is that the company’s UK manufacturing sites now achieve zero waste sent to landfill, although I’d like to see the UK bit replaced with global. It is nevertheless impressive and shows that the issue is being taken seriously, and rightly so, but there is a long way to go, not just for JLR but for every automotive manufacturer on the planet.
Mr Bolloré presumably recognises there is much more to do to achieve these laudable goals. He must also realise that to be recognised around the world as the creator of vehicles that ‘‘reimagine modern luxury by design’’ he must also secure his company’s long-term future by ensuring that its sustainability credentials are impeccable.
And that weighty task now falls to François Dossa, late of Renault and now Executive Director of Strategy and Sustainability at JLR, reporting directly to Mr Bolloré. The company says that Mr Dossa and his team will ‘‘collate, and build-upon, existing cross-function capabilities in mobility services, sustainability, and digitalisation, to accelerate the company’s strategic intent around clean mobility and connectivity’’. I am sure Captain Aubrey would be impressed.
“One claim that impressed me is that the company's UK manufacturing sites now achieve zero waste sent to landfill”