JLR Fires Design Boss, Jaguar Type 00 Concept Creator
JLR (Jaguar Land Rover) will have to find a new head of design. According to British publication Autocar, the automaker has just fired Gerry McGovern, who had held the position for 21 years.
The reasons for the firing are not immediately known, but McGovern apparently received no prior notice and was even “escorted out of the office” on Monday, the report claims.
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Neither JLR nor parent company Tata Motors have commented yet. However, this comes a week after the appointment of a new CEO, PB Balaji, formerly the CFO of the Indian automotive giant.
McGovern (pictured above), who briefly worked for Ford in California before joining Land Rover in 2004, has been instrumental in the success of the British brand's utility vehicles, particularly the Range Rover models. He is also responsible for the latest generation of the Defender, a formidable off-road SUV with a rugged yet playful design.
On the other hand, this is the same man who created Jaguar's highly polarizing Type 00 concept, unveiled in November 2024 as a preview of Jaguar's new image and styling direction. While undeniably spectacular, the car (and especially the advertising campaign developed around it) was quickly and heavily criticized by the automotive press and on social media.
Renouncing almost everything from the past, except for its name, Jaguar now aims to move way upmarket and play in the same league as Bentley, Mercedes-Maybach and Rolls-Royce, with breathtaking designs and craftsmanship usually associated with haute couture as building blocks.
Will it succeed? We should start to find out when a first production model from this new era is unveiled sometime in 2026.