Gerry McGovern abruptly exits JLR

No designer exerted as much control as JLR's Chief Creative Officer. He has probably paid the price for it

By PH Staff / Tuesday, 2 December 2025 / Loading comments

Gerry McGovern, the mercurial designer at the centre of JLR’s creative process for more than 20 years, has made a sudden and unexpected exit from the firm following the appointment of P.B. Balaji as CEO earlier this month. So brutal was the departure that unconfirmed reports suggest he was ‘escorted from the building’. If true, they suggest a remarkable end to one of the most influential, era-defining careers at the firm, one that originally flourished after Tata assumed control of Jaguar and Land Rover in 2008.

McGovern is credited with overseeing some of the manufacturer’s most enduring design triumphs, including the Evoque and the Velar, but also its hugely successful interpretations of legacy designs, most notably the Range Rover and Defender. Notoriously prickly about the relative merits of less successful designs - his receptiveness to criticism regarding the Discovery’s rear-end is the source of many unpublishable anecdotes - though his influence as Chief Creative Officer is not in question, nor the results achieved during his tenure.

Indeed, Autocar India, responsible for breaking the story, acknowledges the early impression that McGovern made on Ratan Tata during his long-running tenure as chairman; a level of regard that helped cement the designer’s position at both Land Rover and later, JLR. As a consequence of his position on the Board of Directors, McGovern’s input is considered fundamental to the emerging concept of ‘House of Brands’ - the repositioning of Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar as distinct nameplates in their own right - not to mention the controversial styling overhaul of the latter as a maker of luxury EVs.

Certainly the uncompromising vision of what Jaguar’s future should look like bore all the hallmarks of a McGovern-led project, one inclined to regard the past as unnecessary baggage. But rumours of internal dissent, particularly with regard to the outsourcing of the wider rebrand, reflected a laboured gestation process - which was ultimately small potatoes in the face of withering criticism when the Type 00 was first unveiled, not just for the appearance of the prow-heavy concept, but the manner of its provocative execution.

Whether the ferocity of this response is at the root of a leadership team reshuffle is not known: JLR has so far declined to comment publicly about McGovern’s exit, though its proximity to P.B. Balaji’s arrival - formerly the CFO of Tata Motors - suggests an abrupt change of direction is on the cards. At any rate, the repercussions are likely to be felt for some time, not least in the light of Jaguar’s tentative steps toward a production start date for the all-important first model of its exclusively electric era.