When an automaker is in turbulent times, sometimes all it takes is the right person to turn it all around. Take Jaguar and Land Rover for example – two companies that have been plagued by quality and reliability issues to the point that the whole world knows just how bad they really are. And I’m not even exaggerating, either. In What Car’s 2020 reliability survey, Land Rover landed dead last in position No. 31 with a score of 78.2-percent, or 10-percent less than Renault at 87.6-percent in position No. 30. Jaguar did a little better in position 21 with a score of 91.8-percent, but you get the idea – neither company is known for two things that matter the most. There was even a protest at JLR’s Shanghai headquarters in 2018 over poor performance. For 2021 and beyond, however, both brands could very well see a completely different fortune.

A Shift In Management Could Be Making All The Difference For JLR

Some company’s have leaders that know what it takes to make things better and others don’t. Just take Alfa Romeo as an example. That company, despite coming in position No. 11 on What Car’s reliability survey, is barely surviving. The company has been forced to delay the Tonale SUV and its new CEO, Jean-Phillippe Imparato, things the solution to Alfa’s problems is to avoid recognizing that the company’s sales are a joke and claiming that its as good as the competition. His solution to save Alfa Romeo? He has decided to delay models and raise prices. We can’t say for sure, but we have a feeling we know how that’s going to work out. Meanwhile, JLR’s new CEO, Thierry Bolloré, is taking the opposite approach and working to resolve issues plaguing both Jaguar and Land Rover.

In an interview with Autocar, Bolloré, not only admitted that there is a problem, but that it’s hard work that’s going to turn things around.

Those results that he’s talking about, are proven results, too. So far, the company has seen a one-third drop in warranty costs from 2021 model-year vehicles. And this is just the tip of the iceberg as all signs point to big improvements in the coming years as well. It all started just a month after Bolloré took his role as CEO when he appointed Nigel Blenkinsop to a new board position. He now serves as the Executive Director of Company Quality and Customer Satisfaction. Through him Bolloré says “we’re improving processes to get better quality by design.”

By that he means that the company is overhauling everything it does in terms of developing vehicles. The company is using and will add more new technology and take advantage of digital design on common systems. In the end, these moves improve the quality of components and how the integrate at the beginning of the process. In other words, JLR is building better vehicles from the start, focusing on quality first. It’ll take some time for the company to fix its blemished reputation, but you can bet that within a few years, the company will be in a much better place than it is right now.