Thierry Bollore, the CEO of Jaguar Land Rover, has reportedly encountered numerous British car jokes over the years, estimating that the company’s image of having quality issues results in a loss of more than 100,000 sales each year, as per a report by Automotive News.
During an investor call last Friday, Bollore humorously mentioned the conspicuous absence of an elephant in the room, teasing that the elephant itself was wary of a potential breakdown in a Jaguar vehicle. While acknowledging recent strides in enhancing reliability, Bollore emphasized the critical need to address the persisting negative perception of the company regarding breakdowns.
Additionally, there is an earnest desire for high-performance models like the Defender V8 to function reliably, Land Rover
“The discontent among our customers has significantly affected our sales volume. The missed opportunities are substantial,” Bollore emphasized, as quoted by Automotive News. “We are potentially losing out on more than 100,000 sales.”
While expressing that instances of dissatisfaction have reached a “record low” with the current 2021 models, Bollore recognized the arduous battle ahead. David Bailey, a business economics professor at Birmingham Business School, suggested to Automotive News that the quality issues at Jaguar Land Rover trace back to the company’s ownership under Ford between 2000 and 2008, albeit a lenient interpretation. British car manufacturers, particularly British Leyland brands like Jaguar and Land Rover in their earlier stages, have been the subject of jokes pertaining to quality for decades. Notable among recent jests was when Doug Demuro humorously exploited CarMax’s generous warranty on a notoriously failure-prone Range Rover.
Recent models from JLR continue to uphold a similar—and evidently justified—reputation. According to Automotive News, in the latest JD Power dependability survey involving owners of three-year-old vehicles, Land Rover ranked second to last, while Jaguar followed closely in the third-to-last position.
The cumulative issues that have inspired numerous jokes about Range Rover breakdowns translate to substantial financial burdens for the company. The negative quality image leads to decreased sales, necessitating markdowns on new vehicles for clearance. The company reported a 24% decline in global sales last year, according to data released in January. Additionally, breakdowns result in financial losses when customers utilize warranties.
Bollore, who assumed the position of Jaguar Land Rover’s CEO in September, stressed the utmost priority on enhancing quality standards. An effective measure of this progress is the reduction in warranty expenses, which decrease as quality levels improve. As per reports by Automotive News, the company’s warranty costs in the first nine months of 2020 amounted to $680 million—almost half of the corresponding figure from 2019.
A potential boost to the company’s reputation stems from its ambitious electrification objectives, with Jaguar targeting full electric status by 2025 and Land Rover planning to follow suit by 2030. Electric vehicles inherently possess fewer mechanical components, reducing the likelihood of failures. JLR’s Chief Creative Officer, Gerry McGovern, informed investors that the brands are transitioning to simpler vehicles with decreased chances of issues by default, according to Automotive News.
“We are significantly streamlining the complexity of our vehicles. This will result in fewer malfunctions due to the streamlined processes,” McGovern noted, as quoted by Automotive News.
Let’s keep mum about software glitches and the fact that, had its incomplete outcomes been included, Tesla would have only marginally surpassed Jaguar—landing in fourth-from-last place—in J.D. Power’s reliability assessment.
Nevertheless, McGovern’s standpoint appears justified, as the newer Jaguar E-Pace SUV secured the top position among small premium SUVs in the J.D. Power Initial Quality Study, which evaluates issues encountered during the initial 90 days of ownership, as reported by Automotive News. In a brand-wise comparison, the performance was less stellar, with Land Rover ranking second to last in the study and Jaguar occupying the sixth-from-bottom spot. It’s noteworthy that the E-Pace is manufactured by the Austrian contractor Magna Steyr. Perhaps JLR should consider contracting Magna Steyr for all its production needs?
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