Jaguar Land Rover China Chief Resigns amid Sales Slide

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai June 25) - President for Jaguar Land Rover China, Bob Grace, will resign in the beginning of July, a source stated. And then Bob will leave China for JLR’s management position in Europe. Though this hasn’t been confirmed by authority of Jaguar Land Rover China, the resignation will be released in a week, added the source. And then JLR will alter its sphere of business in China, playing a different role in Chinese market.

Grace first joined the company in 1985 and has since held various global leadership positions. In July 2010, he assumed his first post in China as the President of the newly established National Sales Company of JLR China, which put an end to the 7-year sales agency system of JLR in China. It was in 2014 that he took the post of President of JLR China, in which Grace have overseen the company’s operations in China and focused on managing the sales growth of the two brands.

Under his leadership, JLR had become the top luxury car brand with the fastest growth for a period in China, with sales jumping from 26,114 units in 2010 to 122,010 units in 2014. Besides, JLR ranked fourth in China in sales, following Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

However, in May 2015, JLR’s sales in China declined by 32.1% to 7,389 units on year-on-year basis. And its year-to-May sales dropped to 39,204 units, a 23% year-on-year decrease. And this sales slide still remains when Grace is said to resign. There’s no reliable resource proving the cause-and-effect relationship between his resignation and the sales slide. But, updating management can serve as a method for JLR to handle sales slide.