Only a handful of women have ever run an international car maker. Only one has done it with absolutely no previous experience in the motor industry.
Calder, 45, worked in private equity and petrochemicals before taking on the automotive chief executive role just seven months ago. She says before putting its first model,, in the hands of customers, INEOS Automotive invested €1.5 billion . “This is not for the faint-hearted!” On that last point, as an employee of the broader INEOS group , Calder says the company has always excelled in logistics. “We’ve always seen that as a really big part of how we make a business successful. So we put a lot of time and effort into it.”
Nonetheless, INEOS will deliver an EV as its second all-new vehicle. In keeping with what Calder describes as a stick-to-our-knitting approach, it’s planned as the most off-road capable fully electric vehicle on the market. “My personal style is that I cannot run a business if I don’t really get under the skin of it. So, I’m not just the money person sitting there saying, well, I understand what it takes to run a good business … I need to start with, ‘Right, help me understand what makes this business tick’.“That means getting under the bonnet of the car, literally. It means spending a lot of time on the production line, literally.