'It is my privilege to lead this incredible company': JLR announces appointment of new chief executive officer
JLR has announced the appointment of a new chief executive officer who will take the helm from November 2025.
P.B. Balaji is to succeed Adrian Mardell, who is retiring from JLR after three years as CEO and 35 years with the Coventry-based business which has huge manufacturing bases alongside the M54 near Wolverhampton and Telford, as well as in Solihull.
Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of Jaguar Land Rover PLC, Tata Motors and Tata Sons, 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.
"He has been associated with the company for the past many years and is familiar with the company, its strategy and has been working with the JLR leadership team. This move will ensure that we continue to accelerate our journey to reimagine JLR.”
Mr Mardell said of his departure: “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.”
Mr Balaji, who has served as group chief financial officer of the Tata Motors Group since November 2017, said he's looking forward to taking on the new challenge to drive JLR forward from the autumn.
He said: “It is my privilege to lead this incredible company.
"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.”
A statement on JLR's website says Mr Balaji has a BTech in mechanical engineering from IIT, Chennai, and a post graduate diploma in management from IIM, Kolkata, and is a "well‑regarded global leader with 32 years of experience in the automotive and consumer goods industries across finance and supply chain functions". It adds that he has "successfully 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".
Shortly after JLR announced the news of Mr Mardell's replacement, US President Donald Trump slammed the company on his Truth Social account, criticising JLR's recent "woke advertisement" and describing the car manufacturer as a company "in absolute turmoil" - adding: "Who wants to buy a Jaguar after looking at that disgraceful ad?"
JLR revealed last month that retail sales plunged 15.1 per cent in the three months to June after a temporary pause in exports to the US and the planned wind-down of older Jaguar models, while wholesale sales dropped by 10.7 per cent.
The company, which recently announced it is to axe 500 management posts through a voluntary redundancy scheme, said the drop in sales was partly caused by the pause in shipments to the US in April after the Trump administration introduced new tariff plans.
The US government had initially said in April that it would impose an additional 25 per cent tariff on car imports into the US but the new US-UK trade deal means a lower 10 per cent tariff will be applied to the first 100,000 UK-manufactured cars imported into the US each year. Any car shipments over the threshold face a 27.5 per cent tariff.
JLR is expected to give an update to investors on its latest trading position on Friday August 8.
