Earlier this month, reports were swirling that Gerry McGovern, acclaimed Jaguar Land Rover design boss and a driving force behind Jaguar’s controversial rebrand, was dismissed from the company. We (and every other outlet) asked our JLR contacts if this was true; the official reply was “no comment,” naturally leading us to figure something was up. Some two weeks later, Jaguar has reportedly stated it’s “untrue” that McGovern was “terminated.” The timeline and terminology still seem suspect to me. What the heck is going on?
Over the weekend, Automotive News Europe shared that it finally got a statement from JLR regarding the exec’s alleged firing: “It is untrue that we have terminated Gerry McGovern’s employment and we do not intend to further comment on speculative stories.” But JLR declined to say whether or not McGovern was still working there. As of this writing (December 15, Monday morning Eastern time), Professor Gerry McGovern OBE is listed as Chief Creative Officer on Jaguar’s Executive Team webpage.
Quick contextual sidebar: The OBE title stands for Officer of the Order of the British Empire, which is a distinction given by the U.K. government to recognize contributions in art, science, sports, or charity. McGovern was awarded this in 2020 for his accomplishments in automotive design.
McGovern is one of the best-known car design minds in the industry right now, and Jaguar’s extreme repositioning from anachronistic to androgynous hyper-futuristic is one of the most dramatic aesthetic pivots the car business has ever seen. All that to say, even if you don’t usually give a crap about corporate politics, drama between JLR and its creative chief is pretty interesting in this particular moment.
The initial firing reports from earlier in this month revolved around rumors of friction between McGovern and Jaguar’s new CEO, PB Balaji, suggesting Balaji wanted to oust the design boss shortly after taking office. Autocar India broke the news, with zero hedging at all, then we and everyone else shared and commented on the reports after JLR declined to comment on the matter.
I understand when automaker press people do “no comment on future product” when they don’t want to divulge details about features or car models that haven’t been finalized yet. But surely they would have known “no comment” regarding whether or not a famous, often public-facing, keystone executive still works there strongly indicates something’s going on.
Since JLR reportedly stated it’s not going to comment further on speculative stories anyway, I guess I might as well speculate while we’re here. My personal theory is that perhaps the new JLR CEO did try to dismiss or somehow sideline McGovern, but the design exec could now be fighting back through legal action, which may prompt JLR to build a “those were just rumors” narrative, either giving McGovern room for a more graceful exit or keeping him on to see through the Jaguar rebrand.
Not for nothing, firing McGovern at this particularly critical time for Jaguar’s brand health would indeed be pretty wild. I mean, yeah, the aggressively minimalist concept car and high-fashion ad campaign have certainly received mixed reviews from commenters so far. But we haven’t even seen the production model yet, or pricing, or let the car have its actual in-market reception. I don’t care for it personally, but if JLR sells a bunch (and the market for expensive cars is booming right along with wealth disparity), McGovern is once again going to look like a visionary.
We’ll probably never know what really took place behind boardroom doors in this, but it’s certainly made me more interested in JLR’s corporate drama. Heck, what if the company started the rumor of McGovern’s firing just to get us more interested in the 00 concept car!?
Got a tip from inside JLR’s corporate enclave? Drop me a line at andrew.collins@thedrive.com.