Sir Ralf Dieter Speth (born 9 September 1955) is a German automotive executive and a director of Indian company

Tata Sons Tata Sons Private Limited is the parent company of the Tata Group and holds the bulk of shareholding in the Tata group of companies including their land holdings across India, tea estates and steel plants. It is a privately owned conglomerate of ...

since 2016. From 2010 to 2020, he was the chief executive officer of

Jaguar Land Rover Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC is the holding company of Jaguar Land Rover Limited (also known as JLR), and is a British multinational automobile manufacturer which produces luxury vehicles and sport utility vehicles. Jaguar Land Rover is a ...

. He has also had roles with BMW, Linde and

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

Premier Automotive Group The Premier Automotive Group (PAG) was an organizational division within the Ford Motor Company formed in 1999 to oversee the business operations of Ford's high-end automotive marques. The PAG was gradually dismantled from 2006 to 2011 with the ...

. Speth is the chairman of TVS Motor Company.

Education

Speth earned a degree in engineering from the University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim, Germany. He later undertook a doctorate of engineering in mechanical engineering and business administration at the

University of Warwick , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020� ...

Career

Speth started his automotive career with BMW in 1980 and worked for them for 20 years. In 2002, he joined

The Linde Group Linde plc is a global multinational chemical company founded in Germany and, since 2018, domiciled in Ireland and headquartered in the United Kingdom. Linde is the world's largest industrial gas company by market share and revenue. It serves ...

and served as head of global operations and as vice president of operations. He was also

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if ...

and a member of the executive board at its subsidiary

KION Group Kion Group AG (styled as KION Group) is a German multinational manufacturer of materials handling equipment, with its headquarters in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. Its principal products are intralogistics, warehouse automation equipment, and indus ...

GmbH. In 2007, Speth returned to the car industry and joined

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

(PAG) as director of production, quality and product planning. Following the sale of two of the PAG marques, Jaguar and Land Rover, to Tata, he became chief executive officer of

(JLR) in February 2010, and a non-executive director of

Tata Motors Tata Motors Limited is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturing company, headquartered in Mumbai, India, which is part of the Tata Group. The company produces passenger cars, trucks, vans, coaches, buses. Formerly known as Tata Eng ...

in November 2010. Under Speth's management, JLR increased the company's workforce significantly. "We have added more than 17,000 people in the course of the last five years," he said in an interview published in June 2015. Speth championed the need for R&D and made much of JLR's investment in R&D. "I guess we are the biggest R&D investor in the UK in the automotive business," he claimed. In the 2015 Special Honours list, Speth was appointed an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to the automotive industry. In August 2019, the award was made substantive following Speth becoming a British citizen. In September 2016, Speth was appointed an honorary professor, having previously been an industrial professor. In October 2016, Speth was appointed an additional director on the board of

. On 30 January 2020 he announced his intention to retire from his role as CEO of JLR effective September 2020, but remain on both the JLR and

boards. He entered into a non-executive role in the company and was succeeded by the CEO of

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...

Thierry Bolloré Thierry Yves Henri Bolloré (born 30 May 1963) is a French businessman, previously CEO of Jaguar Land Rover. He began his career at Michelin, then joined Faurecia in 2005 and Renault in 2012 as Chief Competitive Officer, then was named COO in 2 ...

. In 2020 he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

. In April 2022, Speth took over the role of chairman of Indian automaker TVS Motor Company succeeding Venu Srinivasan.

Personal life

He is married, with two children, and lives between Leamington Spa and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Speth, Ralf 1955 births Living people People from Roth (district) German automotive engineers German chief executives Chief executives in the automobile industry Chief operating officers Jaguar Land Rover Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of the University of Warwick Alumni of Warwick Business School Engineers from Bavaria Fellows of the Royal Society Tata Motors people