Jaguar Land Rover Boss to Step Down in September

Reuters
By Reuters
January 30, 2020Business News
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Jaguar Land Rover Boss to Step Down in September
Ralf Speth talks during the Opening Ceremony of the Invictus Games Orlando 2016 at ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Fl., on May 8, 2016. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images for Invictus)

The boss of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will step down from his role at the end of his contract term in September as Britain’s biggest carmaker shows signs of improvement after a torrid 2019 of job cuts, deep losses, and falling sales.

Ralf Speth has led the company since 2010 during which it has pursued a major global expansion with new factories in China, Brazil, and Slovakia putting it on course to make 1 million cars per year.

The-Jaguar-Land-Rover-plant-at-Halewood-in-Liverpool
Signs are seen outside the Jaguar Land Rover plant at Halewood in Liverpool, northern England, on Sept. 12, 2016. (Phil Noble/ Reuters/File Photo)

But sales ended last year at just over 550,000 vehicles as the firm was slower than some rivals in electrifying its line-up whilst large drops in diesel demand and a slump in China, the world’s biggest autos market, hit its performance.

JLR posted a 6 percent decline in 2019 sales but it has bounced back in China in recent months and overall company sales rose by 1.3 percent in December.

NTD Photo
Land Rover Discovery. (Courtesy of Jaguar Land Rover)

Speth will stay on as non-executive vice chairman at JLR and will remain on the board of Tata Sons, the parent group of Tata Motors which owns JLR, the firm said in a statement.

“A search committee has been formed which will work with me to identify a suitable successor in the coming months,” said Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran.

JLR posts third-quarter results as part of Tata Motors later on Jan. 30.

By Costas Pitas