JLR's Old & New CEO

JLR are looking ahead for the best course from here

The incumbent CEO is Ralf Speth, who took the role in 2010. In that year Land Rover sold 181,400 vehicles and Jaguar 51,400. Under his stewardship, sales peaked at 442,500 and 178,600 respectively. heavy investment in R&D was a hallmark of his tenure, as well as a huge surge in sales.

From that it appears it was all beer and skittles throughout his reign as CEO but unfortunately, the last two to three years have not been. Firstly, China had been a sizable part of JLR's success but Jaguar in particular was hit by a sales slump there, much more than many competitors. Along with that was a big hit to profits. Now the corona virus has added much more woe.

Second, plants were built offshore as sales soared but with the sales downturn, this created overcapacity. The models made in the UK were particularly affected, leading to layoffs. The goose that was happily laying golden eggs suddenly stopped.

So Ralf Speth's time in charge of JLR should be remembered for what amazing things he did. What happened in China - especially for Jaguar - should have been handled much better than it was and I assume the importer got things wrong there. The fact that it did happen on his watch does reflect on him, but it is easy to negatively judge from a distance. In the overall scheme of things, the last decade was a very successful time for JLR.

Where to from here for Jaguar saloon cars?

Now along comes Thierry Bolloré, a man with much experience working for various French companies. It culminated in being made CEO of Reanult in early 2019, but in just nine months in that role, he was dismissed. Officially it was Renault's poor performance that was the reason for his short stay at the top. However, the for brevity of time he was allowed to sort things out that seems scarcely credible.

He has now landed the JLR CEO position and he won't have to deal with the issues he just faced at Renault but there is plenty for him to sink his teeth into. The company has a good range of vehicles, especially in the SUV area, where different models compliment each other nicely. The problem is what to do with passenger cars, which are struggling.

Jaguar has a new direction for the XJ and the F-Type is doing OK. The XE and XF, fine cars as they are, nevertheless are struggling as people move to SUVs. (Jaguar should have got into SUVs sooner). Arranging to co-develop cars with another manufacturer to save costs is surely a no-brainer. That's provided one that compliments Jaguar's ethos wishes to co-operate. of course, such matters are for Monsieur Bolloré to sort out.

Is his appointment a good move? I have no idea but his work history and experience is certainly in his favour. The industry is going though a very trying time for all sorts of reasons, so for that reason it may ultimately be difficult to judge his efforts. At present any CEO of a car company will have his work cut out.

Challenging times for the car industry

Argentina Vehicle Production - Brand : 2018-19

Producing vehicles in Argentina gives a manufacturer access to an otherwise restricted market. The downside is its unpredictable nature. Production is divided into passenger cars and LCVs.

PCs: From 2010 to 2019, the average volume was 350,000 units but 2019 was just 111,400. It was back in 2003 when the figure was lower (109,000). The up and down nature resembles a roller coaster. Volume was +2% in 2018 and -47% a year later. Fiat is the largest producer, followed by GM and newcomer Toyota. Fiat make the Cronos (see picture above), a compact 4-door car exclusive to Latin America.

LCVs: This is a more stable part of Argentinian production. the past decade average was 246,000 compared to 2019 with 203,400. Volume was -4% in 2018 and -21% in 2019. Toyota was the leading manufacturer with half of the total, the Hilux being the model made.

Passenger Cars
18	19	Brand	2019	%	+/-	2018	%	+/-
1	1	Fiat	31,907	28.6%	-40%	53,385	25.6%	63%
2	2	GM	24,378	21.9%	-33%	36,335	17.4%	-28%
4	3	Toyota	23,068	20.7%	-17%	27,865	13.4%	n/a
3	4	Renault	15,564	14.0%	-47%	29,202	14.0%	2%
8	5	Honda	8,542	7.7%	-11%	9,597	4.6%	-7%
5	6	Ford	3,893	3.5%	-75%	15,766	7.6%	-47%
7	7	Peugeot	2,093	1.9%	-83%	11,968	5.7%	-43%
9	8	Citroën	1,371	1.2%	-85%	9,018	4.3%	-8%
6	9	VW	600	0.5%	-96%	15,437	7.4%	-27%
		Total	111,416		-47%	208,573		2%
Commercial Vehicles
18	19	Brand	2019	%	+/-	2018	%	+/-
1	1	Toyota	101,992	50.2%	-10%	113,360	43.9%	-10%
2	2	VW	41,924	20.6%	-32%	61,247	23.7%	12%
3	3	Ford	38,395	18.9%	-27%	52,849	20.5%	9%
7	4	Nissan	10,769	5.3%	156%	4,213	1.6%	n/a
4	5	Renault	5,279	2.6%	-52%	10,979	4.3%	-57%
5	6	Peugeot	3,307	1.6%	-64%	9,242	3.6%	-1%
6	7	Citroën	1,705	0.8%	-72%	6,186	2.4%	6%
		Total	203,371		-21%	258,076		-4%
		Grand Total	314,787		-33%	466,649		-1%

Data source: ADEFA.

Wales Gets Into Car Manufacturing

Wales is now officially a car producing country. Not that many of its inhabitants will be able to afford one. Nevertheless, it now holds that distinction which may lead to more investment in manufacturing. I think its a place of much potential in that regard.

The DBX is a very important model for the company. Sports cars can be in fashion one minute and out of it the next. SUVs are more bankable and that is something Aston Martin needs. The investors and workforce will all be hoping so.

This is the first to roll off the production line. I thought they had already had a few made before the covid shutdown but apparently not. This disruption hasn't been helpful to AM but now the DBX is a reality.

2020 Perú Car/LCV Sales : (Jan-Jun)

I have been reluctant to post data from Perú because it only covers the top 25 but then I thought why not? It still provides some information. Sales are -47% for the January to June period, the month of June about the same. The list below has a '+/- Diff' column that compares market share, six months of 2020 with a complete 2019.

Toyota has held the top spot consecutively since 2018, which it took from Hyundai. It now has a substantial lead although its share of the market has slipped from 19.6% to 18.7% so far this year. Chevrolet, VW, Changan and Dong Feng all made useful improvements in their share. Overall, considering the upheavals of the year it is surprisingly stable.

Year				2020		Share		+/-
17	18	19	20	Brand	Sales	2020	2019	Diff
3	1	1	1	Toyota	7,377	18.7%	19.6%	-5%
1	2	2	2	Hyundai	4,680	11.9%	12.3%	-3%
2	3	3	3	Kia	3,377	8.6%	9.3%	-8%
6	4	4	4	Chervolet	2,592	6.6%	5.6%	17%
5	6	5	5	Nissan	1,907	4.8%	5.0%	-3%
4	5	6	6	Suzuki	1,678	4.3%	4.4%	-4%
8	7	10	7	VW	1,616	4.1%	3.4%	21%
	10	9	8	Changan	1,609	4.1%	3.4%	19%
9	11	7	9	Renault	1,387	3.5%	3.9%	-10%
	17	12	10	Dong Feng	1,244	3.2%	2.6%	22%
7	8	11	11	Mazda	1,138	2.9%	3.1%	-7%
10	9	8	12	Mitsubishi	1,132	2.9%	3.5%	-18%
13	14	14	13	Ford	988	2.5%	2.2%	14%
16	12	13	14	JAC	985	2.5%	2.3%	7%
14	15	15	15	Great Wall	816	2.1%	2.0%	4%
18	18	17	16	Chery	638	1.6%	1.5%	5%
12	16	16	17	Subaru	616	1.6%	1.8%	-15%
11	13	18	18	Honda	490	1.2%	1.5%	-15%
			19	Jinbei	383	1.0%	?	n/a
15	19	19	20	BMW	351	0.9%	1.0%	-9%
	22	22	21	Foton	323	0.8%	0.6%	26%
20	21	20	22	Mercedes	306	0.8%	0.9%	-16%
17	20	21	23	Jeep	303	0.8%	0.9%	-14%
	23	23	24	Peugeot	291	0.7%	0.6%	28%
	25	24	25	MG	266	0.7%	0.6%	21%

Data source: AAP.