Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
JLR – British car company formerly known as jaguar Land Rover – has reportedly parted ways with its chief creative officer, Professor Gerry McGovern OBE. With reports suggesting it was a fluke, Gerry was fired from his office earlier this week, although JLR’s official line is “no comment”.
It seems JLR is never away from controversies. The company came to a halt earlier this year when it was hit by a sophisticated cyberattack – halting design and engineering work from factory lines for weeks – with production only recently resuming.
Then there’s the brouhaha over the new Jaguar – abandoning the entire model line-up for a new, bold (some might say brutal) all-electric model, which was launched in a striking shade of pink. That Jaguar and all-electric range rover These are just a few delayed projects while the company’s balance sheet goes up and down more than my WiFi signal.
Gerry has been similarly controversial over the years, apparently loved and hated by his colleagues in equal measure. What no one can deny, however, is the impact he had on the JLR business during his 21-year career at his local carmaker (McGovern was born in the Midlands) or the quality of the designs he and his teams produced time and time again.
From two generations of Range Rover to re-inventing the Defender, that weird offset number plate on the Discovery didn’t hurt sales, and then there’s the money-making Range Rover Evoque (although Victoria Beckham did her best to take some credit for it). Every car Gerry touches turns to gold.
JLR has cut ties with the ad agency that relaunched Jaguar and has now done the same with the man who designed the car.
So, it was no surprise that he eventually took control of Jaguar and began to re-imagine the great but constantly struggling British brand. When the world first saw the Type 00 concept car – myself included – breaths held fast, but the car’s design was somewhat overshadowed by the advertising campaign that accompanied it.
JLR has cut ties with the ad agency that relaunched Jaguar and is now understood to have done the same with the man who designed the car.
Full disclosure here: I like Gerry. Yes, he can be stubborn and rude, but he’s incredibly intelligent, passionate about all things design, and always entertaining to talk to.
He and I once had lunch at the famous Four Seasons restaurant in New York’s famous Seagram Building, with Henry Kissinger sitting at the next table. While I was in awe of sitting down with one of America’s most famous politicians, Gerry had his eyes set only on the design of the restaurant and the architecture of the building – one of his favorites.
Get your charger and tariff now.
Save EV happily for later.
Terms and conditions apply
Advertisement
Get your charger and tariff now.
Save EV happily for later.
Terms and conditions apply
Advertisement
Our shared love of architecture took us to London, where we traveled to see one of his art dealers, his tailor, and one of his favorite buildings, Trellick Tower – one of the best examples of Brutalist architecture, which Gerry admires.
Gerry once described me as a friend and then used a less-than-complimentary four-letter word to describe me. I took it as an absurd term of endearment.
As I write this, I have no idea why Gerry has left JLR. His departure coincided with the arrival of a new CEO, PB Balaji, who was the chief financial officer of JLR’s owner, Tata. Whether this is a new design direction the new boss wants to adopt or something else, we’ll probably never know.
But what I do know is that the echo of Gerry’s departure will be felt far beyond JLR. Gerry will be in huge demand – and rightly so. Even at almost 70, Gerry would be a great accomplishment for anyone.
Imagine what he could do as the design boss of BYD, China’s biggest car company, or any other emerging brand in the Far East I’d love to see.
Gerry is such a good designer that he hasn’t hung up his pencils yet. It’s going to be a tough act to follow him at JLR (I wonder if his former deputy, Massimo Fascella, is regretting his decision to move to Audi last year?), but it’s a very tough task for anyone.
Gerry may eventually pursue another of his passions by designing furniture or buildings. However, I hope this isn’t the last we see of him and that we get to see some Gerry McGovern cars in the future that won’t have any JLR brand badges on them.