Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) chief Adrian Mardell will step down after more than three decades at the company, having said he wanted to retire after three years as CEO, a spokesperson for the carmaker said on Thursday.
His successor will be announced in due course, the spokesperson added.
Mardell joined JLR in 1990, became CEO in November 2022 after a stint as CFO from June 2019 and spearheaded a major brand revamp at Jaguar.
During his tenure, the British luxury carmaker, a wholly owned subsidiary of India’s Tata Motors, posted its highest profit in a decade, eliminated £5bn (R120,176,400,000) in debt and posted its strongest operational performance to date.
JLR in April paused exports of its British-made vehicles to the US for a month after President Donald Trump imposed a 25% tariff on all imported cars. It resumed exports in May.
The US, which accounts for nearly a quarter of JLR’s global sales, is a key market for its high margin Range Rover and Defender models.
JLR has no manufacturing presence in the US and its Range Rovers are built in Britain, subject to a 10% levy, while its Defenders are assembled in Slovakia, which faces a 15% duty.
Jaguar has plants in Britain.
Mardell was among the guests at the opening of Trump’s new golf course in Scotland on Monday, part of the US president’s five-day visit to the UK.