Jaguar boss who oversaw ‘woke' rebrand to retire
On Thursday, Jaguar Land Rover said that Adrian Mardell, 64, will step down from the company after just three years in the role.
'Adrian Mardell has expressed his desire to retire from JLR after three years as CEO and 35 years with the company,' a spokesman said.
Under his leadership, Jaguar pushed forward with a major relaunch as an electric vehicle carmaker - but a controversial advertising campaign led to a barrage of criticism over its 'woke' new image.
As part of the shake-up, the company unveiled a new advert featuring catwalk models and brightly coloured, haute couture clothing walking around a Mars-like landscape bathed in bright pink.
Messages such as 'create exuberant' and 'break moulds' flashed on the screen.
The advert, which was released to promote the company's new logo and wider rebrand, was dubbed a 'hallucinogenic sci-fi movie' and prompted a barrage of criticism online.
Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla, asked on social media: 'Do you sell cars?'
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, also accused Jaguar of going 'absolutely bonkers … showing a bunch of weirdos'. He predicted that the carmaker would 'now go bust. And you know what? They deserve to'.
It was a striking contrast with Jaguar's roguish image, with adverts from the 1970s showing the cars out in the wild, sometimes draped by female models, with taglines such as 'the 12-cylinder animal', 'prowl car' and 'nobody's pussycat'.
Mr Mardell defended the rebrand, saying that it would 'create the same sense of awe that surrounded iconic models like the E-Type'.
During his tenure, the British carmaker, which is owned by India's Tata Motors, posted its highest profit in a decade and eliminated £5bn in debt.
JLR in April paused exports of its British-made vehicles to the United States for a month after President Donald Trump imposed a 25pc tariff on all imported cars. It resumed exports in May.
The US, which accounts for nearly a quarter of JLR's sales, is a key market for its high-margin Range Rover and Defender models.
JLR has no factories in the US. Its UK-built models, including Jaguars and Range Rovers, are now subject to a 10pc levy, while its Defenders are assembled in Slovakia, which faces a 15pc duty.
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