8:14 am, July 21, 2023
JLR has officially made interim boss Adrian Mardell its CEO.
The manufacturer appointed Mardell as its interim chief executive last November, after Thierry Bolloré quit for personal reasons, having only been in the post for just over two years.
Mardell, who has been a JLR man for more than three decades, was promoted to the interim post from chief financial officer, having been a JLR board member for three years.
Acting CFO Richard Molyneux – who was moved to the position in December 2022 after six years as finance director of operations at JLR – has also had his top finance role confirmed.
Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of JLR owner Tata Motors, said: ‘I offer my warmest congratulations to Adrian Mardell and Richard Molyneux on their respective appointments to chief executive and chief financial officer of JLR.
‘Adrian and Richard are an exceptional team with strong automotive and leadership experience.
‘I look forward to working with them further, delivering JLR’s transformation to modern luxury which is well under way.’
Mardell said: ‘It has been my immense privilege to lead JLR over the past eight months and I am proud to be appointed chief executive of this fantastic business, which has shaped me over the past 32 years.
‘We have the right vision and people to deliver our Reimagine strategy and I am honoured to lead JLR on the journey ahead.’
Molyneux said: ‘I am delighted to be appointed chief financial officer at JLR.
Richard Molyneux has officially been made JLR’s chief financial officer after seven months in an interim capacity
‘Our financial position continues to improve and this, coupled with our enviable brands and our investment of £15bn over the next five years, gives me great confidence in the delivery of our transformation.’
The confirmation of the senior appointments comes on the heels of Tata Group’s announcement that it is to build a £4bn-plus gigafactory in Somerset, creating thousands of jobs.
Slated to start production in 2026, around 40 gigawatt hours (GWh) of battery cells will be produced at the site – enough to meet half of what Britain needs to produce annually by 2030, when the ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars comes into effect, according to one estimate.
Rishi Sunak has since said it wasn’t just taxpayers’ money that enticed Tata to the UK in favour of Spain.
The government confirmed it stepped in with subsidies to help Tata choose the UK site, but ministers and spokespeople repeatedly refused to give details.
The prime minister said: ‘When I was chancellor, I set up the Automotive Transformation Fund, which was always there to provide targeted investment in strategic industries where we thought it would make sense.
‘But what is crucial about an investment like this is it’s not just going to be about that, it’s going to be about the quality of the workforce that we have here, the quality of our infrastructure, the road and rail connections, the approach to regulation, the competitiveness of our tax regime, which we have changed to make it more attractive for businesses to invest.’
Downing Street wouldn’t be drawn on whether the government support was worth £500m or even as much as £1bn.
‘Some of this stuff is commercially sensitive. It’s not in the UK’s interests to get into all the detail when negotiating with companies,’ the PM’s official spokesman said.
But he promised, as did energy security secretary Grant Shapps, that the figures would come out at a later date.
