Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Mike Manley, who has previously been mentioned in reports as a possible replacement for Speth at JLR, was not included in the shortlist, according to the Financial Times report,
The list focuses on executives who have worked for German premium automakers, continuing a hiring theme for JLR since it was bought by Tata Motors from Ford Motor in 2008.
Speth was hired in 2010 after a career that included 20 years at BMW, and many of his early executive hires were from the German automaker, including the former head of R&D Wolfgang Ziebart and the head of manufacturing at BMW’s Dingolfing plant, Wolfgang Stadler.
JLR’s current chief commercial officer, Felix Braeutigam, joined the company in 2018 from Porsche.
Speth revived JLR’s fortunes, reversing its unprofitability under Ford ownership and recording double-digit margins from 2011-2015. In 2015, the company had a 14 percent profit margin as a booming Chinese market snapped up Range Rovers.
JLR’s growth model came unstuck, however, as first the Chinese market cooled in 2018 and then the coronavirus pandemic struck, forcing it to make job cuts in a bid to rescue its finances.
