Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 16
AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE
TALK FROM THE TOP
'That's the price'
JLR exec on how automaker avoided 'dirty discounting game' in China
J
aguar Land Rover plunged to a 3.6 billion pound (4.2 billion euro) loss during its last financial year, ending a long
streak of consistent growth and strong
profits. Most of the loss came from a 3.1
billion pound write-down on investments
in February after 2018 sales in China collapsed 22 percent. That prompted a 2.5
billion pound cost savings drive, including the loss of 4,500 jobs, as the Tata
Motors-owned company reassessed its
priorities. The tough decisions are paying
off as JLR reported a 156 million pound
pre-tax profit during its second quarter
that ended in September. Felix Bräutigam
outlined how the automaker aims to keep
heading in the right direction, particularly
in China, in an interview with Automotive
News Europe Correspondent Nick Gibbs.
JLR has struggled in China. What is
your strategy there now?
Since 1994 we have had three to four
cyclical downturns in the Western world,
which is normal, but the Chinese market
was growing each and every year. Then,
all of a sudden, last year it was down,
which was seismic. One of the reasons
why we had a difficult 2018 was that we
took a conscious decision not to offset
the overall slowdown by pushing volume
at any cost, so we cut production. We
are in it for the long run. If we start a really dirty discounting game in China and
buy market share in a relatively young
market, what does that do to our brand?
It says we are a discount brand and that
doesn't match what Jaguar and Land
Rover should stand for.
Is your China business now sustainable?
We see green shoots in China. We didn't
just take out production. We worked
intensively with retailers, we simplified
our product offer and we worked on the
cost side. Now we are growing again.
I'm not saying we have completed the
turnaround, but we have the patience.
It's such a young market, whatever we
do right and wrong now will influence
our success in China, which will be the
biggest premium market for the next
10 to 20 years. But at the same time the
market is still declining so we face headwinds on a more macroeconomic level.
16
www.autonewseurope.com
Meet the sales boss
❚ NAME: Felix Bräutigam
❚ TITLE: Jaguar Land Rover
Chief Commercial Officer
❚ AGE: 52
❚ MAIN CHALLENGE:
Putting enough distance
between JLR's two brands and
their competition to create
sustainable demand without
needing to discount.
We want to be in enough niches that
we can be enticing to enough Chinese
customers who say:
'This is exactly what I want.'
In Partnership with
2019
http://www.autonewseurope.com
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019
Contents
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - Intro
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - Cover1
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - Cover2
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - Contents
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 4
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 5
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 6
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 7
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 8
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 9
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 10
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 11
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 12
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 13
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 14
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 15
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 16
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 17
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 18
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 19
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 20
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 21
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 22
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 23
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 24
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 25
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 26
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 27
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 28
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 29
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 30
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 31
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 32
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 33
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 34
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 35
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 36
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 37
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 38
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 39
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 40
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 41
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 42
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - Cover3
Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - Cover4
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