The saga of Gerry McGovern at JLR – the automaker formerly known as Jaguar Land Rover – Now it seems to be over.
Autocar has received a memo to JLR employees on Friday (UK time) announcing the departure of design chief Gerry McGovern from the car maker at the end of March.
In the memo, Mr McGovern said it was a “great privilege” to have worked at Jaguar Land Rover for two decades and he was “enormously proud of what we have built together”.
With Daily Sparkz you can save thousands on a new car. Click Here to get a great deal.
He thanked the Tata family, which owns Tata Motors and JLR and with whom he is reportedly close, “for the opportunities they have given me.” Mr McGovern plans to set up a design consultancy after leaving the British car maker.
PB Balaji, who took over as CEO of JLR in early November 2025, thanked Mr McGovern for his “significant contribution” to the company and noted: “Gerry’s creative leadership, vision, drive and passion have left an indelible mark on our brands.”
JLR confirmed the authenticity of the memo, ending the months-long saga that began in early December 2025 Autocar And Coach India reported that Mr. McGovern had been fired and escorted from the office.
Despite these reports, Mr. McGovern remained listed on the company’s website as chief creative officer and a member of the board. Neither JLR nor Mr McGovern could be reached for an official comment.
It wasn’t until mid-month that a JLR representative said the report was “untrue.” Interestingly, the spokesman would not confirm whether Mr McGovern was still with the car manufacturer.
Although it is now official that Mr McGovern will be leaving JLR, it is unclear what happened in December 2025, nor do we know why he decided to leave, or why he was slowly pushed out the door.
Mr. McGovern began his career at Chrysler after graduating from the Royal College of Art. He then worked at Peugeot, Rover and then Ford.
At the Blue Oval, he worked in the Lincoln-Mercury division before being named head of advanced design at Land Rover. He stayed with the British company after Ford sold Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors in 2008, later rising to become Land Rover’s chief designer and ultimately Jaguar Land Rover’s chief creative officer in 2020.
In this role, Mr. McGovern appeared before the world’s media to unveil the Jaguar Type 00 concept in late 2024. The bold and controversial concept previews Jaguar’s new design language, which will be used on a range of electric vehicle models designed to transition the brand from BMW to Bentley.
After December Coach India report, former employees said Hagerty An autocratic boss with an outsized ego, Mr. McGovern was prone to tantrums over everything from misaligned badges to the dirt floor not being spotlessly clean when he arrived.
His leadership style is said to have created a tense and challenging work environment that led to high staff turnover within the design department.
MORE: Explore the Jaguar showroom | Land Rover showroom
