Jaguar’s design guru responsible for the controversially marketed battery-electric Type 00 luxury sedan concept will leave the company by the end of March.
In an official statement from Jaguar Land Rover emailed to WardsAuto, Gerry McGovern will step down as the brand’s chief creative officer and as a member of the JLR Board. According to the release, he intends to establish his own creative consultancy.
The Type 00 concept caused heated debate when it was launched amid a marketing campaign that “zeroed-out” Jaguar’s long automotive heritage to focus on a lifestyle approach promoting diversity.
During the launch, McGovern ruffled a few traditionalist feathers when he said Jaguar’s marketing strategy over the past two decades had been wrong, “with too much looking back at the brand’s heritage while the industry and the world have moved forward and changed.”
Several media outlets began running stories that JLR had fired McGovern at the end of 2025, eliciting a firm denial from the company in December.
According to the company’s statement, McGovern studied Industrial Design at Coventry University and Automotive Design at the Royal College of Art and has since built an international career spanning more than 40 years.
Since 2004, he has overseen the design direction at Land Rover, including for the Range Rover Evoque, Defender, Discovery, Defender and Velar, as well as two generations of the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport.
“The dedication and passion of thousands of people across the business have made these brands what they are today, and I am enormously proud of what we have built together,” McGovern is quoted in the JLR email. “I look forward to the next chapter of my creative career,” he added.
