In a shocking shake-up at JLR, legendary design boss Gerry McGovern has reportedly been removed from the company with immediate effect. According to media reports from India, McGovern was asked to leave on Monday and was even escorted out of JLR’s facilities, something that stunned many inside the organization.

McGovern served as JLR’s Chief Creative Officer and was one of the most influential figures behind Jaguar and Land Rover’s modern design identity. He played a major role in creating the radical Jaguar Type 00 concept and had recently been leading Jaguar’s complete brand and design overhaul.

A Sudden Exit With No Official Comment

So far, neither JLR nor its parent company, Tata Motors, has released a formal statement about the firing. Sources inside the company say even members of McGovern’s own design team were caught completely off guard by the decision.

But the timing of his removal comes during a very challenging period for JLR. The company’s revenue has taken a massive hit, losing billions due to several major issues:

• U.S. tariffs introduced by the Trump administration forced JLR to halt shipments of foreign-built vehicles to the American market for the month of April.
  
• A cyberattack at the end of August caused JLR to shut down its global manufacturing plants for more than five weeks.
  
• A struggling EV plan, which critics say may be too aggressive for current consumer demand.
  

All of this has placed huge pressure on the company’s leadership.

A New CEO and a New Direction

McGovern’s firing happened just two weeks after PB Balaji became JLR’s new CEO, its fourth leader in only six years. Balaji is a seasoned financial expert who previously served as Tata Motors Group CFO, and although he has been connected to JLR since 2017, he is not a traditional automotive executive.

His arrival suggests the Tata Group wants major cleanup and restructuring at JLR. With McGovern’s deep involvement in the company’s long-term strategy, some insiders believe Balaji viewed him as part of the ongoing problems rather than the solution. At 69, McGovern was also known for his strong opinions and was never afraid to challenge decisions, something that may have contributed to internal conflicts. See more Photos

A Major Figure in Automotive Design

Gerry McGovern’s career is one of the most influential in modern automotive design:

• In the 1990s, he designed the MGF roadster.
  
• As Lincoln-Mercury’s design head (1999–2003), he created several highly praised concept cars.
  
• After joining Land Rover in 2004, he pushed the brand strongly upmarket with more elegant and refined vehicles.
  

Under his direction, the Range Rover and Defender lineups became massive profit generators. In 2023 alone:

• JLR sold about 80,000 Range Rovers at an average price of $180,000.
  
• The company also sold around 125,000 Defenders, averaging $95,000 each.
  
• Land Rover made roughly $25,000 profit per vehicle, even while Jaguar continued losing money.
  

There’s no doubt McGovern played a key role in JLR’s financial survival over the past two decades.

But Not Without Controversy

Despite his achievements, McGovern became a divisive figure inside JLR. A 2022 letter, reportedly signed by 25 to 30 designers, criticized a decision to outsource Jaguar’s rebranding to the external firm Accenture Interactive instead of keeping the work in-house.

McGovern also pushed the costly and controversial “house of brands” strategy, which separated Defender, Discovery, and Range Rover into standalone brands with individual identities and retail spaces. The Land Rover name became a smaller “trustmark,” a move many longtime fans disliked.

This strategy also put Jaguar directly under his control in branding and design. Not long after, Jaguar design chief Julian Thompson left the company in 2021.

Jaguar’s High-Risk EV Future

One of the biggest concerns now is Jaguar’s future product plan. The production version of the Type 00 concept, scheduled for August 2026, will be a low-slung luxury electric four-door priced from around $120,000. It’s planned to ride on the all-new Jaguar Electric Architecture (JEA), which will later support a coupe-style SUV and a sports car before 2030.

But Jaguar’s all-EV strategy is starting to look risky. Consumer interest in EVs has slowed dramatically worldwide, and many major automakers are now reversing course by investing again in hybrids and even gasoline engines.

JLR doesn’t have that flexibility. The company has already shut down all of its internal combustion projects, meaning Jaguar is completely committed to electric-only vehicles, with no way back without enormous cost.

Land Rover Brands Also Facing Uncertainty

Defender, Discovery, and Range Rover are expected to move toward EVs as well. Larger models will use the MLA-Flex platform, which can support engines, hybrids, and EVs. However, smaller models, like the Range Rover Evoque, Discovery Sport, and the rumored “baby Defender”, were expected to go fully electric on the new EMA platform.

Interestingly, sources say EMA was originally designed to support gasoline engines as well, meaning plug-in hybrids could still be possible. But making such a major change would require time and money, two things JLR is running short of.

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