Jaguar Land Rover CEO Adrian Mardell Seeks To Step Down Amid Trump Tariff Disruptions

Jaguar Land Rover Chief Executive Officer Adrian Mardell is likely to step down from his position amid the disruptions triggered by the tariff policy of the United States — one of the key markets for the company, reported Bloomberg.

A company spokesperson told the news agency on Thursday that Mardell, who has been with JLR for around 35 years, has "expressed his desire to retire." This comes three years after he took over as the CEO of the luxury sports car maker. His successor will likely be announced in due course.

Mardell was appointed to the position of CEO in November 2022, after the sudden departure of Thierry Bollore. Prior to that, he was JLR's chief financial officer and has led the brand through one of the most transformative periods. He helped the company transition from posting heavy losses and huge debt to posting the best profit figures for a decade last year.

He joined JLR in 1990, serving in various roles over the past three decades. In 2008, he became deputy chief financial officer and operations controller, and subsequently chief transformation officer.

Mardell has also overseen the formation of JLR's House of Brands retail strategy during his tenure in the company.

While Mardell is likely to leave the company in a relatively stable position than when he had taken up the job, the company still have to face strong headwinds in the form of tariffs.

The company, owned by Tata Motors Ltd., was among a number of carmakers to withhold profit guidance at the height of the US tariff uncertainty. The UK recently finalised a trade deal with US that reduced the US import tariff on its exported cars to 10% from the earlier 25%. However, this is applicable only for the first 1 lakh cars shipped to the US in a year, indicating that any cars beyond that number would still face a tariff of 25%.