Jaguar Land Rover is losing its CEO after three short years. Adrian Mardell is stepping down, ending his 35-year career at the company, which culminated with a few years in the top seat. His time at the helm included an eyebrow-raising shift to electrification for Jaguar and other challenges for the storied British automakers.
A Jaguar Land Rover statement said, “Adrian Mardell has expressed his desire to retire from JLR after three years as CEO and 35 years with the company. His successor will be announced in due course.” Mardell will stay in the role until the end of the year.
While the most recent developments at JLR haven’t seemed all that positive, Mardell’s time as CEO saw a strong recovery from COVID-era lows and record profits, but the Jaguar rebranding has overshadowed any past successes. The brand is completely transforming itself and moving to higher-end vehicles, but the near-term effect has been zero new models on sale and an overall pause on production during the transition.
The move would put Jaguar into direct competition with higher-end brands like Bentley and Rolls-Royce, but it sure feels like things are going to get worse for the brand before they get better. Despite those challenges, Mardell is still bullish on Jag’s future, saying, “In today’s market conditions, I don’t see anything that is going to concern me about the success of the new Jaguar in this new world at all, actually.”
[Images: Jaguar]
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