Jaguar Land Rover chief standing down
JAGUAR Land Rover boss Thierry Bolloré is to step down as chief executive after just two years in the job.
Mr Bolloré is said to have resigned for personal reasons and is understood to be remaining in place until the end of this year.
He will be replaced temporarily by Adrian Mardell, finance director at JLR, who started his career there as a graduate trainee 32 years ago.
When Mr Bolloré joined JLR from French giant Renault, the Coventrybased company was in the throes of factory shutdowns because of Covid.
It also faced an uphill battle on several fronts, including electrifying a heavy fleet of luxury vehicles and being much smaller than competitors such as BMW, Porsche and Mercedes.
While lockdowns have ended, and JLR’S owner Tata has praised Mr Bolloré for the start he has made in reforming the business, he leaves the company in a similar position as it attempts to mend broken supply chains – particularly the supply of computer chips – which have left production stuttering and profitability suffering.
JLR fell to a pre-tax loss of £412m for the year to the end of March compared with a £662m profit in the previous 12 months, while other European car manufacturers have achieved record results by diverting what computer chips they can find away from mass-market models to more profitable vehicles.
While Mr Mardell holds the fort, a search for Mr Bolloré’s permanent successor will begin immediately.
Whoever takes over will be tasked with returning the firm to profit and finding a way to push buyers towards its electric and hybrid cars.
Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata and JLR, said: “The foundations for a successful transformation have been laid, leaving the company well poised for the future.”