JLR elevates Adrian Mardell as CEO for three years

Tata Motors' wholly-owned subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Plc has appointed Adrian Mardell as chief executive officer for a three-year term. Mardell was appointed interim CEO on November 16, 2022. He was chief financial officer and a member of the JLR board of directors for three years prior.

JLR also announced the appointment of Richard Molyneux as chief financial officer. Molyneux was appointed acting CFO on December 12, 2022, following six years as finance director of operations.

This comes days after the Tata group announced plans to invest over 4 billion pounds or ₹42,500 crore to set up a 40-gigawatt battery cell gigafactory in the United Kingdom. JLR and Tata Motors will be anchor customers of Europe's largest electric car battery factory and supplies will commence from 2026.

The new gigafactory is expected to create up to 4,000 new direct jobs and is one of the largest-ever investments in the UK automotive sector.

This factory is set to provide almost half of the battery production needed by 2030 – turbocharging Britain's switch to zero emissions vehicles, the U.K. government said.

The battery gigafactory will produce high-performance battery cells and packs for a variety of applications within the mobility and energy sectors.

"The Tata group will be setting up one of Europe's largest battery cell manufacturing facilities in the UK. Our multi-billion pound investment will bring state-of-the-art technology to the country, helping to power the automotive sector’s transition to electric mobility, anchored by our own business, Jaguar Land Rover," said N Chandrasekaran, chairman, Tata Sons.

Commenting about the announcement of the UK gigafactory, UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, said: "Tata group's decision to build their new gigafactory here in the UK – their first outside of India – is a huge vote of confidence in Britain. This will be one of the largest ever investments in the UK automotive sector. It will not only create thousands of skilled jobs for Britons around the country, but it will also strengthen our lead in the global transition to electric vehicles, helping to grow our economy in clean industries of the future."

Tata Group also plans to set up a lithium-ion cell manufacturing unit in Gujarat with an initial investment of around ₹13,000 crore. Its subsidiary Agratas Energy has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Gujarat to build a gigafactory with a production capacity of 20-gigawatt hours. Tata Group's gigafactory in Gujarat will ensure "political de-risking" and control of the whole supply chain upstream as well as downstream, the automaker said in its investor presentation last month.

Shares of Tata Motors were trading in the green following the appointment of JLR's CEO. The stock rose as much as 0.7% to ₹625 apiece on the BSE on Friday. Foreign brokerage Jefferies has given a 'buy' call on the stock, with a target price of ₹665, and it foresees the company's India business and JLR unit performing well in FY24.

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