Jaguar Land Rover appoints new chief executive to replace Adrian Mardell who is to retire after 35 years following months of turmoil at the company, which this week has been branded ‘stupid’ and ‘woke’ by Donald Trump. Tony McDonough reports
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has appointed PB Balaji as its new chief executive to replace the outgoing Adrian Mardell.
Mr Mardell is to retire after 35 years in the company and three years in the top job. Despite overseeing the highest profits in a decade at the carmaker and eliminating £5bn in debt, he leaves following significant criticism of the business.
Earlier this year the company unveiled a rebranding as it moves its range from petrol to electric. This divided opinion and this week even US President Donald Trump weighed in calling the recent marketing campaign “stupid” and “woke”.
This period has also coincided with a dip in sales and turmoil over US tariffs. However JLR, which employs around 3,500 people at its factory in Halewood in Merseyside, insists Mr Mardell’s retirement had been planned and was unrelated to the recent controversies.
Mr Balaji has been group chief financial officer of Tata Motors Group, JLR’s parent company, since November 2017 and is a global leader with 32 years of experience in the automotive and consumer goods industries across finance and supply chain functions.
He has led large, diverse, global teams in multi‑cultural environments out of Mumbai, London, Singapore and Switzerland, and has been closely associated with the successful transformation at the Tata Motors Group.
He has a B Tech in mechanical engineering from IIT‑ Chennai and a post-graduate diploma in management from IIM – Kolkata.
“It is my privilege to lead this incredible company,” said Mr Balaji. “Over the past eight years I have grown to know and love this company and its redoubtable global brands.
“I look forward to working with the team to take it to even greater heights. I thank Adrian for his immense contributions and wish him well for his next innings.”
Mr Mardell added: “These three years have been a great privilege. Together with the incredible JLR workforce, we have cemented JLR’s position in the automotive industry during a time of incredible change.
“I would like to thank everyone in JLR and the extended Tata Group, and wish Balaji every success in his new role”
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And Mr Chandrasekaran, JLR chairman, also said: “I would like to thank Adrian for the stellar turnaround of JLR and for delivering record results. I am delighted to appoint Balaji as the incoming CEO of the company.
“The search for a suitable candidate to lead JLR has been undertaken by the board for the past few months and after careful consideration it was decided to appoint Balaji.”