32 YEARS 9 MONTHS 4 DAYS

Former apprentice Adrian Mardell grafted at JLR for more than three decades before ascending to the top job. He tells Mark Tisshaw how he got there

- Mark Tisshaw

“I think I was born for this role." It's not the answer new JLR CEO Adrian Mardell would have expected of himself had he been asked before getting the job whether the role was for him.

For the CEO position is one Mardell, speaking to Autocar just three weeks after he was confirmed full-time in the role he had held on an interim basis since Thierry Bolloré's sudden departure late last year, "never had any expectation or anticipation" for previously. But once given the hands-on experience, he realised it was the job he'd been waiting for all along.

While Mardell now feels he was born for the role, his experience has certainly helped shape him for it. He was promoted to CEO from the job of chief financial officer, one of 19 largely finance roles at JLR in the "32 years, nine months and four days" he has worked here. He precisely quotes the figure on more than one occasion.

In that time, which saw him start as an apprentice, he has got to know "thousands of people who care for me as I care for them, and trust me as I trust them". That accumulation of faith will be vital if Mardell is to engage and bring with him the hearts, minds, talents and expertise of the 38,000 people working for JLR at a time when the company is changing like never before.

Indeed, it had only recently been at its lowest ebb, cutting 4500 jobs in 2019 and trying to cut £2.5 billion in costs even before anything like Covid or the chip shortage hit the business. But Mardell is clearly popular among JLR staff: he had more than 1000 messages of congratulations upon getting the top job, and he sent a reply to each one over the next four days.