McGovern's mission: Make Jaguar 'wonderful' again

Gerry McGovern wants to modernize the design of Jaguar cars and make the sports-car brand "wonderful again."

After leading Land Rover design since 2006, McGovern has been promoted to Jaguar Land Rover's chief creative officer, overseeing Jaguar design boss Julian Thomson and Land Rover design head Massimo Frascella.

"I'm savoring the thought of helping my Jaguar colleagues to bring Jaguar back to the position it deserves. It's a unique brand with incredible pedigree and a lot of potential," McGovern told Automotive News Europe in an interview. "If it could be developed in a way that freed it from some of the constraints it has had in the past, I think it could be wonderful again," he said.

Jaguar has been criticized in the past for leaning too much on iconic designs of its illustrious heritage, although new models such as the I-Pace full-electric crossover have pushed the brand into the modern era. The brand has successfully introduced crossovers such as the F-Pace but has struggled to engage customers with its sedans as customer tastes change.

Jaguar has said it is dropping the XE midsize sedan from its U.S. line-up in October, citing tough competition from SUVs. The brand is also reducing engine options for the XE and XF sedans in Europe.

During his time as Land Rover's design boss McGovern reinvented the SUV brand's range, including modernizing the iconic Defender offroader. He recently spoke about how he plans to modernize the replacement for the Range Rover, due next year. "The current generation moved the game on significantly and this next one will, too," he said.

McGovern's new role overseeing the Jaguar and Land Rover brands comes just over a year after the retirement of Jaguar's long-serving head of design, Ian Callum, who sought to move away the brand's design from its past, especially with the XJ large sedan.

The XJ's design referenced the original 1968 car until 2010. "That, unfortunately, gave Jaguar the reputation of being a traditional car company, when in reality it is a very modern and innovative car company," Callum said just before his retirement. Callum's new design direction for the XJ in 2010 broke away from the previous generations.

McGovern was named one of Automotive News Europe 2020 Eurostars for his success at Land Rover, which regularly challenges bigger German brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW in the SUV market.

McGovern is 64 but said he is not considering retirement. "I'm not done yet," he said.