Bolloré may kill off Disco Sport, XJ, XE, XF...
Discussion
From yesterday's Sunday Times. Thierry Bolloré is to announce a radical shake-up of JLR nameplates:
Jaguar Land Rover’s new boss could slash the car-maker’s product range — even ditching its forthcoming electric XJ saloon.
Former Renault chief executive Thierry Bolloré is believed to be mulling deep cuts to its line-up, with up to six current and planned models facing the axe.
Bolloré, who replaced Sir Ralf Speth last month, is grappling with an array of issues at Britain’s biggest car-maker, from the economic slump to a confused mix of similar models. He also inherited a range of poor-selling Jaguar saloons.
Bolloré is understood to be considering halting the XJ, despite JLR and its suppliers having spent tens of millions of pounds on tooling for the new car. It has limited sales prospects, with Jaguar hoping to sell 38,000 a year. Bolloré, 57, is considering ditching two more models — a Range Rover and a Jaguar SUV — that were due to be built on the same platform, or skeleton.
Also at risk are its Jaguar XE and XF saloons, sales of which have disappointed, and its Discovery Sport SUV, with similar characteristics to a number of its other SUVs. That raises questions over JLR’s Castle Bromwich and Halewood plants.
Model cuts would be a significant diversion from Speth’s strategy. The Bavarian was hired by Tata to turn round Jaguar after the Indian conglomerate bought the car-maker from Ford for £1.1bn in 2008.
Jaguar Land Rover’s new boss could slash the car-maker’s product range — even ditching its forthcoming electric XJ saloon.
Former Renault chief executive Thierry Bolloré is believed to be mulling deep cuts to its line-up, with up to six current and planned models facing the axe.
Bolloré, who replaced Sir Ralf Speth last month, is grappling with an array of issues at Britain’s biggest car-maker, from the economic slump to a confused mix of similar models. He also inherited a range of poor-selling Jaguar saloons.
Bolloré is understood to be considering halting the XJ, despite JLR and its suppliers having spent tens of millions of pounds on tooling for the new car. It has limited sales prospects, with Jaguar hoping to sell 38,000 a year. Bolloré, 57, is considering ditching two more models — a Range Rover and a Jaguar SUV — that were due to be built on the same platform, or skeleton.
Also at risk are its Jaguar XE and XF saloons, sales of which have disappointed, and its Discovery Sport SUV, with similar characteristics to a number of its other SUVs. That raises questions over JLR’s Castle Bromwich and Halewood plants.
Model cuts would be a significant diversion from Speth’s strategy. The Bavarian was hired by Tata to turn round Jaguar after the Indian conglomerate bought the car-maker from Ford for £1.1bn in 2008.
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