Jaguar Land Rover appoints interim boss Mardell as CEO for three-year term

BENGALURU: Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), a unit of Indian automaker Tata Motors, said on Thursday it appointed interim boss Adrian Mardell as chief executive officer for a three-year term.

Mardell, who has been with JLR for 33 years and became chief financial officer in 2019, transitioned to the interim CEO role last November when Thierry Bollore resigned due to personal reasons.

The automaker also made acting CFO and former McLaren Automative finance chief Richard Molyneux's role permanent. Molyneux, who previously spent over six years as JLR's finance director of operations, was appointed acting CFO last December.

The appointment of Mardell comes a day after Tata Group announced plans to build an electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in Britain to supply its Jaguar Land Rover factories.

Mardell, a 62-year-old British national, will also be tasked with overseeing JLR's electrification plans after it announced in April it would invest 15 billion pounds (RM87bil) over the next five years in electric vehicles and promised to deliver a new electric Jaguar in 2025.

The maker of high-end cars, including Range Rover and Defender, posted a 30% rise in first-quarter wholesale volumes earlier this month, and forecast free cash flow of over 2 billion pounds for current fiscal year.