Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Jaguar Land Rover has parted ways with Gerry McGovern, its chief creative officer behind the polarising redesign of the Jaguar brand, several weeks after the arrival of the UK luxury-car maker’s new chief executive.
McGovern left JLR on Monday, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, although it was not immediately clear why he had departed and who would replace him.
JLR, owned by India’s Tata Motors, declined to comment, while McGovern did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Autocar first reported McGovern’s departure from JLR.
The company’s longtime design head and board member has been an influential figure at JLR for the past two decades and is best known for refashioning the workhorse Land Rover Discovery into the more stylish Range Rover Sport.
Last year, McGovern led a bold and contentious transformation of the Jaguar brand into an all-electric, ultra-premium marque.
The Type 00, Jaguar’s new concept car with a long bonnet, low roof and lack of a rear window, has divided opinion, although McGovern has defended its bold design as “fearless creativity”.
His departure comes only two weeks after the arrival of former Tata Motor finance chief PB Balaji as the new JLR chief executive, replacing Adrian Mardell.
People close to JLR said Balaji was tasked with setting a new direction for the company following recent challenges including a devastating cyber attack in late August that shut down production for more than a month.
McGovern had close ties with Ratan Tata, longtime leader of the Tata Group who died in 2024.
David Bailey, professor at the University of Birmingham, suggested McGovern’s departure was “much more than a routine management reshuffle”.
“It was the symbolic end of an era and a clear signal that JLR’s bold experiment in transformation is wobbling under commercial and cultural pressure, with owner Tata looking to exert more control,” he added.