Adrian Mardell, CEO of British carmaker Jaguar Land Rover, has announced his resignation.
On July 31 news site Autocar revealed that the 64-year-old had decided to retire after fewer than three years at the helm.
Jaguar Land Rover confirmed the reports and announced that his successor would be revealed “in due course”. Mardell will officially leave office on December 31.
Mardell spent more than 35 years of his working life at Jaguar, primarily in the finance department.
He was promoted to CEO in November 2022 as the company was struggling with dismal financials and high debt after the Covid-19 pandemic. Mardell managed to turn the British carmaker around with the company posting 10 consecutive profitable quarters, according to news site Automotive News.
Mardell’s legacy, though, will be dominated by a dramatic rebranding of Jaguar announced in late 2024. The company declared it wanted to become an all-electric luxury marque by 2026.
The rebrand included a new logo, abolishing the iconic leaping jaguar in favour of a mixed-case version of the company name, and a new slogan: “Copy nothing.”
The brand relaunch was accompanied by a 30-second ad spot featuring – in the words of Top Gear contributor Ollie Kew – “a posse of non-plussed high-fashion models posing in a lift and poncing about with a paintbrush and mallet in a children’s soft-play zone” but not a single car.
The rebrand was widely met with disbelief by Jaguar fans with the company being accused of “going woke”.
Moreover, Jaguar Land Rover said customers would not be able to buy any cars until the rollout of the first new all-electric “Type 00”, presumably in 2026. The production of Jaguars with internal combustion engines was ceased in late 2024 – causing a 98 per cent fall in sales.
The public backlash over the remake of an iconic British brand may have forced the company to reconsider: In May 2025, it was reported that Jaguar was looking for a new advertising agency to replace Accenture Song, the company behind the rebrand.
Jaguar was founded in 1922 in Blackpool, northwest England and originally called Swallow Sidecar Company.
In 1945, the company was officially renamed to Jaguar Cars Limited. From the 1940s to the 1970s Jaguar made a name for itself as a producer of eye-catching sports cars, including the models XK150 and the iconic E-Type.
In 1989, Jaguar was acquired by US auto company Ford, which sold the company together with Land Rover to Indian carmaker Tata in 2008.
