Jaguar Land Rover chief creative officer Gerry McGovern, the man behind the controversial Jaguar rebrand and Type 00 concept car, has been sacked by the British carmaker according to online reports.
Having spent 21 years with the company and holding a position on JLR’s Executive Committee, McGovern’s marching orders are said to have come suddenly and dramatically.
As reported by Autocar in the UK and its subsidiary Autocar India, the latter based in the same country as JLR’s parent company Tata Motors, McGovern’s position had been “terminated with immediate effect” on Monday December 1, 2025.
Adding to the drama, the source suggested that McGovern was “escorted out of the office” at JLR’s Gaydon Design Studio. However, exact details why are yet to be confirmed, with a JLR spokesperson giving Autocar a simple “no comment” response.
Question marks had surrounded McGovern and the Jag rebrand as far back as September 2022, with Autocar India reporting a leaked letter to the designer signed by 25-30 employees that expressed “profound disappointment at the lack of consultation” surrounding the brand’s redirection.
Although held in high regard by the late Ratan Tata, the former Tata Group chairman who led its takeover of JLR, McGovern’s exit comes mere weeks after the appointment of Tata Motors chief financial officer PB Balaji as the new chief executive of JLR on November 17.
Balaji’s appointment follows the retirement of Adrian Mardell after a 35-year career with the brand, the final two years of which were spent as CEO, although a third year remained on his contract at the time.
McGovern was a key figure in the reinvention of the Jaguar brand in November 2024 and the Type 00 concept which revealed its future direction the following month.
The mixed case “JaGUar” rebrand, confusing video advertisements, and the Type 00 were all savaged online by the public and press alike, drawing criticism for ditching the brand’s heritage and identity.
At the time, McGovern defended it, saying: “Jaguar has its roots in originality. Sir William Lyons, our founder, believed that ‘a Jaguar should be a copy of nothing’. Our vision for Jaguar today is informed by this philosophy. New Jaguar is a brand built around Exuberant Modernism. It is imaginative, bold and artistic at every touchpoint. It is unique and fearless.”
After working on the Land Rover Freelander and third-generation Range Rover as a member of the Austin Rover Group design team, he was hired by Ford in 1999 to revitalise Lincoln-Mercury.
In April 2004, he rejoined Land Rover as advanced design director, later becoming a member of the Land Rover Executive Committee in 2008 and continuing in it after the 2013 merger with Jaguar.
He rose to the role of chief creative officer in 2020 after shaping models including the Range Rover Evoque, Range Rover Velar, and the unibody Land Rover Defender.
