The challenges awaiting Jaguar and Land Rover as the brands transition from internal combustion power to electric will be daunting and leave little room for error. 

When he took the reins from retired CEO Ralf Speth last fall, former Renault chairman Thierry Bollore, 58, reviewed the company’s strategy and decided it would not be adequate for a rapidly changing industry. Bollore created a new plan, called Reimagine, that radically recasts Jaguar into a superluxury competitor on a par with Bentley, Aston Martin and maybe even Rolls-Royce, and turns Land Rover’s SUV lineup into environmentally friendly — but still rugged — green machines. 

Bollore had to make some painful decisions, including dropping the new all-electric Jaguar XJ sedan that was just weeks away from production and halting development of a three-row Jaguar crossover called the J-Pace — a move that cost JLR hundreds of millions of dollars. Bollore and his team concluded the XJ would not be competitive with the best EVs on the market. And neither vehicle fit into the Reimagine plan, which calls for Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles to be built on separate platforms. 

Dealers are on board with the Reimagine plan, and the first vehicles to be produced under it are about three years away.