Jaguar Land Rover reveals new CEO after top man announces retirement plans
Jaguar Land Rover has revealed the name of the man set to become its new Chief Executive Officer after plans for Adrian Mardell’s retirement were announced last week. Mr P.B. Balaji will become CEO from November 2025 following Mr Mardell’s departure.
It’s been a tumultuous year for JLR amid a host of challenging economic circumstances – including the financial ramifications of the trade tariffs implemented across the pond by US President Donald Trump – which contributed to a quarterly sales slump.
Mr Balaji will now succeed Mr Mardell, who recently expressed his desire to retire from JLR after three years as CEO and 35 years with the company.
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Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of Jaguar Land Rover PLC, Tata Motors, and Tata Sons said: “I would like to thank Adrian for the stellar turnaround of JLR and for delivering record results. I am delighted to appoint Balaji as the incoming CEO of the company.
“The search for a suitable candidate to lead JLR has been undertaken by the Board for the past few months and after careful consideration it was decided to appoint Balaji.
“He has been associated with the company for the past many years and is familiar with the company, its strategy and has been working with the JLR leadership team. This move will ensure that we continue to accelerate our journey to reimagine JLR.”
Mr Mardell said: “These three years have been a great privilege. Together with the incredible JLR workforce, we have cemented JLR’s position in the automotive industry during a time of incredible change.
“I would like to thank everyone in JLR and the extended Tata Group, and wish Balaji every success in his new role.”
Mr Balaji said: “It is my privilege to lead this incredible company. Over the past eight years I have grown to know and love this company and its redoubtable global brands.
“I look forward to working with the team to take it to even greater heights. I thank Adrian for his immense contributions and wish him well for his next innings.”
Mr Balaji has been serving as the Group Chief Financial Officer of the Tata Motors Group since November 2017 and is a well‑regarded global leader with 32 years of experience in the automotive and consumer goods industries across finance and supply chain functions.
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. He has a BTech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT‑ Chennai, and a postgraduate diploma in management from IIM – Kolkata.
Dr Charles Tennant, a local automotive analyst, said: “The Tata Group chairman has clearly acknowledged the stellar performance that has been achieved under outgoing CEO Adrian Mardell’s leadership, which I certainly endorse. It has been a remarkable achievement and places the company in a great position to move forward.
“This is the first time that a Tata executive has taken the top job at JLR, and, like Adrian, Mr P.B. Balaji is a finance man who already has very good knowledge about JLR, so is in a good position from the get-go. I don’t expect he will make any big strategic changes and will follow through with the Reimagine plans.”