Jaguar Land Rover says CEO Mardell to step down

LONDON (Reuters) -Jaguar Land Rover chief Adrian Mardell will step down after more than three decades at the company, having said he wanted to retire after three years as CEO, a spokesperson for the automaker said on Thursday.

His successor will be announced in due course, the spokesperson added.

Mardell, who joined JLR in 1990, became chief executive in November 2022 - following a stint as chief financial officer from June 2019 - and spearheaded a major brand revamp at Jaguar.

During his tenure, the British luxury carmaker - a wholly owned subsidiary of India's Tata Motors - posted its highest profit in a decade, eliminated 5 billion pounds ($6.6 billion) in debt and posted its strongest operational performance to date.

JLR in April paused exports of its British-made vehicles to the United States for a month after President Donald Trump imposed a 25% tariff on all imported cars. It resumed exports in May.

The U.S., which accounts for nearly a quarter of JLR’s global sales, is a key market for its high-margin Range Rover and Defender models.

JLR has no manufacturing presence in the U.S. and its Range Rovers are built in Britain, now subject to a 10% levy, while its Defenders are assembled in Slovakia, which faces a 15% duty.

Jaguar has plants in Britain.

Mardell was among the guests at the opening of Donald Trump's new golf course in Scotland on Monday, part of the U.S. president's five-day visit to the UK.

($1 = 0.7558 pounds)

(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti; Additional reporting by Aditi Shah in New Delhi; Editing by William Schomberg and David Holmes)