Three years after his sudden promotion to CEO, Adrian Mardell is stepping down as Jaguar Land Rover CEO. His successor, P.B. Balaji inherits a much more financially sound company – but faces plenty of his own challenges.
Jaguar Land Rover’s new CEO P.B. Balaji has been serving as CFO.
Adrian Mardell, Jaguar Land Rover’s Chief Executive Officer, is leaving the automaker at year’s end, the automaker set to replace him with P.B. Balaji, currently its chief financial officer. Mardell was credited with pulling JLR out of a financial tailspin, the British-based automaker reporting a more solid situation in recent quarters.
The outgoing CEO has worked for JLR for more than thirty years. Mardell joined Jaguar Land Rover in 1990, working in a number of financial positions. He was named Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Operations Controller in 2008, and subsequently Chief Transformation Officer. He replaced Thierry Bolloré who abruptly resigned in 2022.
“I would like to thank Adrian for the stellar turnaround of JLR and for delivering record results,” said N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, Tata Motors, and JLR. Meanwhile, he said, “Balaji’s familiarity with JLR’s strategy and leadership team will ensure continuity as we accelerate our journey to reimagine JLR.”
A Challenging Future
Jaguar’s concept, the Type 00, sports a bold look with its long hood and low, sweeping roof gives it an almost art deco feel, which really suits much of Miami’s architecture.
Despite posting Jaguar Land Rover’s 10th consecutive profitable quarter and booking a $2.5 billion profit, for its fiscal year that ended in March, and its highest in a decade, the company’s next CEO is facing a challenging future. “The scale and speed of the challenges that we face, particularly the speed, means there will be a dip,” Chief Financial Officer Richard Molyneux told analysts earlier this month. Mardell is the latest CEO to exit at a major automaker following similar CEO departures at Renault, Stellantis and Volvo Cars.
With the dollar weakening, the company is facing tariffs on vehicles imported to the U.S. from the U.K. of 10%. That might not sound bad, but it doesn’t account for its bestseller stateside, the Land Rover Defender. It’s built in Slovakia, and subject to a 15% European Union tariff, as is the slow-selling Land Rover Discovery. After 100,000 cars are shipped from the U.K. to the U.S. in a single year, that percentage increases to 25%. JLR has no manufacturing in the U.S. Further impacting revenue is China, which dropped from being JLR’s top market to fourth place in the first half, with sales down 15%.
All of this is impacting profit margins, which are expected to fall to somewhere between 5%-to-7% this fiscal year, down from 8.5% for the previous fiscal year. As a result, the company is preparing for lower profits by eliminating 500 management jobs.
Changing Product Plans
While Jaguar is in a holding pattern, JLR has scored with its latest Land Rover line-up.
But with America’s support for EV adoption waning, Jaguar Land Rover is now extending the life of its combustion-engine models, the compact Range Rover Evoque and midsize Land Rover Discovery Sport SUVs, even as it prepares to begin production of vehicles based on its new battery-electric Electric Modular Architecture, or EMA for short. JLR has invested £500 million pounds ($667 million) to overhaul its plant in Halewood, northwest England where the EMA-based vehicles will be produced.
The first vehicle to be built on the EMA platform is the Range Rover Electric, although production will not start until next year. A battery-electric replacement for the Range Rover Velar is expected in April 2026, while an electric Defender Sport may not see light of day until early in 2027, according to The Guardian newspaper. Also delayed are two Jaguar’s first-generation electric cars, the first vehicles to be launched as the Jaguar brand pivots to become a purely battery-electric brand. They are reportedly now slated to debut in August 2026, according to The Guardian, with a second Jaguar to follow in December 2027.
Jaguar’s new design direction was previewed by December 2024. the Type 00, which was revealed during Miami’s Art Basel in December 2024. But its arrival coincided with an ad campaign that drew immense controversy, rather than curiosity. The brand has ceased manufacturing vehicles until its new EVs are ready. It remains to be seen whether the new products will rescue or bury the brand. In the meantime, Land Rover is keeping the company afloat.
Final thoughts
Jaguar Land Rover’s turn to EV productions comes as sits ales are declining in China even as demand for EVs is waning in Europe and the U.S. Add President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught and Jaguar’s controversial makeover, and it is little wonder that Mardell is leaving. But it’s going to take a strong, imaginative manager, and a minor miracle, for Jaguar Land Rover to weather the stormy seas that await.
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