JLR has confirmed that PB Balaji, chief financial officer of its parent company Tata Motors, will become its new CEO from November.
The appointment follows the news last week, broken by Autocar, that current CEO Adrian Mardell was retiring after 35 years with the company. Prior to becoming CEO in 2023, Mardell had been JLR’s CFO.
While Mardell’s departure had not been announced prior to the news becoming public last week, it was obviously long planned, as JLR’s search for a replacement had been ongoing “for the past few months” according to Tata chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran.
JLR says Balaji is “a well-regarded global leader with 32 years of experience in the automotive and consumer industries across finance and supply chain functions”.
With experience working across Tata’s operations in Mumbai, London, Singapore and Switzerland, Balaji is “closely associated with the successful transformation” of the company.
Balaji is already on the board at JLR, as well as Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, Tata Motors Finance Group and – notably – Agratas, which is building an electric vehicle battery factory in Somerset, partly to supply JLR EVs.
Chandrasekaran 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.”
Balaji added that it is “my privilege to lead this incredible company.”
“Over the past 8 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.”
JLR has not given a precise start date for Balaji, and Mardell has not said exactly when he will leave the firm.
Mardell was appointed as CEO in 2023, following the sudden departure of Thierry Bolloré, and has led the Jaguar and Land Rover brands through one of the most transformative periods in their respective histories.