JLR to have new CEO as Jaguar rebrand boss announces retirement

The head honcho who made the JLR “House of Brands” and the dramatic rebrand of Jaguar is stepping down after three years in the role.

Jaguar Land Rover’s Adrian Mardell has expressed his desire to retire after 35 years in the company, and 3 years as its Chief Executive Officer. Succeeding him will be P.B. Balaji, the current Group Chief Financial Officer for Tata Motors, who has been in the post since 2017.

In his three years as CEO, Mardell was able to turn JLR from a financially struggling brand to posting profitable results in 10 consecutive quarters. Likewise, it was also in his leadership that Land Rover models like the Defender, Discovery, and Range Rover became bespoke brands as part of its Reimagine plan.

But in most recent memory, Mardell will be remembered as the person who greenlit Jaguar’s radical rebrand as a high-end EV maker, changing their corporate logo, which also followed with a new ad campaign, which drew overwhelming backlash online.

P.B. Balaji, on the other hand, is a well‑regarded global leader with 32 years of experience in the Automotive and Consumer Goods industries across finance and supply chain functions. According to JLR, he has successfully led large, diverse, global teams in multi‑cultural environments out of Mumbai, London, Singapore, and Switzerland, and has been closely associated with the successful transformation at the Tata Motors Group.

Balaji will officially take Mardell’s post by November 2025.