JLR’s Chief Creative Officer, Gerry McGovern, was terminated with immediate effect on Monday, December 01, 2025. McGovern was responsible for some of the most influential JLR designs of recent times, such as the wildly popular new Land Rover Defender, the Range Rover Evoque and the Range Rover Velar.
Unfortunately, McGovern was also equally responsible for the unpopular rebranding of Jaguar which drew widespread backlash from both inside the industry as well as customers and the general public. An internal email had also come to light wherein around 25-30 members of the JLR design team disagreed with McGovern’s decision to outsource the rebranding to an agency like Accenture Interactive.
Ratan Tata had always been one of the key supporters of McGovern, but with his passing, the winds shifted. McGovern’s exit came about only two weeks after the appointment of PB Balaji as the new CEO of JLR on November 17, 2025. There are big changes coming at JLR, and we can’t wait to see what’s in store for this iconic brand.
