The directors of Jaguar Land Rover Iberia They live very tense moments. To the point that some of them have lost their nerve in a public event of great cache as a result of the bad press that recurrently shakes the British brand. Felix Olavarrietamarketing manager at Jaguar Land Rover Iberia, He is one of those managers who has publicly revealed the tension that exists internally in the house. To the point that in the middle of the autobelloan event showcasing luxury cars, the top official approached well-known TikTok mechanic, Angel Gaitan, to call him a “son of a bitch” following an interview published on MONCLOA.com. Land Rover models are giving many failures, as expert voices credit. And the after-sales service does not accompany. Such is the drama, that even a senior ex-director of Land Rover has acknowledged to MONCLOA.com that the subsidiary in Spain is “on the verge of closing”.
Jaguar Land Rover not going through his best year. In fact, it is probably going through its worst moment in terms of sales. The cars are giving “many problems”, as expert voices and some customers attest, but this is not necessarily the most serious. Land Rover’s after-sales service has received a wave of criticism after the last batches of its cars have gone directly wrong from the factory, something that can be seen frequently on social networks and something that is easily contrasted with the mechanics who work almost daily with these apparently luxurious models. This has generated a level of tension in the Land Rover management more than remarkable. So much so that even the head of marketing for the English brand, Félix Olavarrieta, has allowed himself the small luxury of approaching Ángel Gaitán, the renowned TikTok mechanic, to call him a “son of a bitch” for an interview published on MONCLOA.com in which he claimed that “Dacia is more reliable than Land Rover” today.
“Well, my opinion is that you are a son of a bitch”
All this happened last Thursday at Autobello, a luxury car event to which the TikTok mechanic, Ángel Gaitán, was invited, and which was also attended by the entire board of directors of the major car brands, including Jaguar Land Rover. “While I was walking around the event, a married couple approached me and told me that they were also from Aranceta,” says Gaitán. “He told me that he was the director of marketing for Jaguar Land Rover and it reminded me of the interview that I published.” Up to this point, the meeting between Gaitán and Olavarrieta was normal, but the situation became tense in a matter of minutes. “He told me that I couldn’t say those things and I told him that it was just my opinion.” And as soon as the businessman commented on that, the director of marketing responded emphatically, raising the tone of the conversation: “well, my opinion is that you are a son of a bitch”, he assured, not in a jocular tone. All because of the interview published on MONCLOA.com.
After this, Gaitán assures that he told him that the conversation had ended right there and that he had disrespected him. He told her that the brand was causing mechanical problems and dealing with customers and they ended the meeting. “I did not expect that a person with that position called me a son of a bitch,” says Ángel Gaitán.
The reality that emerges from this meeting is the same as that confirmed by a former senior executive of the brand to MONCLOA.com. Jaguar Land Rover has been going downhill for a few years and without brakes, never better said. The changes that have taken place due to the purchase and sale of the leadership of the English brand have had an impact on the very manufacture of the vehicles and lately, as happened to Alfa Romeo with the 159, they give many mechanical problems to the leave the dealership. Jaguar Land Rover tries to respond as best it can, but there do not seem to be any satisfactory solutions. For this reason, this former director has forcefully assured MONCLOA.com that Land Rover Spain is on the verge of closing. Only a miracle, like the “San Evoque”, could get the English brand out of the abyss it is facing.
The brand is going through tough times. And now that there are also no chips for car sales, those very expensive models that Jaguar Land Rover sells are going through even more difficult times. The English brand’s own sales graph makes it clear that they are going downhill. Since 2016, coincidentally the moment when the models began to present major failures, car sales have plummeted without any control. Of the 10,272 units registered, according to official data, in Spain in 2016 they have registered 3,441 units.
The reality is clear if you see a couple of charts on sales. If they continue in this trend, it does not seem that there will be any way for them to survive in Spain. The figures for the United Kingdom may be more friendly, but those for the Iberian Peninsula do not point to a recovery. Ángel Gaitán himself explained in the MONCLOA.com article that the marketing director at the event reproached him that the reason why the Land Rovers failed had to do with the fact that they bought parts from different brands and assembled something similar to a “Lego ” on their engines.
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