Ex-Jaguar Land Rover, Renault CEO Bollore joins U.K. EV supplier

LONDON – Thierry Bollore, the former CEO of Jaguar Land Rover and Renault Group, has joined the board of EV supplier Bedeo as a strategic adviser.

Bedeo, based in London and Farnham, England, makes electric powertrains for vans, including new models for Stellantis, as well as for retrofitting existing diesel and gasoline models. It also makes a kit to convert classic Land Rover Defenders to EVs.

The company is launching the retrofitting business in France to take advantage of government subsidies for the service. Both Stellantis and Renault Group have announced plans to convert internal-combustion vans to EVs.

Bollore, 60, a former Faurecia executive, was chief operating officer at Renault Group when CEO Carlos Ghosn was arrested in November 2018 in Japan on charges of financial irregularities. He became CEO of Renault in January 2019, but was ousted by the board of directors in October of that year.

In 2020, Bollore was named CEO of JLR, and in February 2021 presented a strategic plan called “Reimagine.” He resigned in November 2022 and was replaced by Adrian Mardell.

In a statement on Monday, Bollore said he was "looking forward to sharing my knowledge with (Bedeo) in support of pursuing the company's mission" to electrify transportation.

Reuters contributed to this report