Rajan Amba to take over as JLR managing director, succeeds Rohit Suri

Appointment comes at a time when JLR is facing supply chain issues hampering its production

Rajan Amba, currently the vice president-sales, marketing and customer care at Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, now will take charge as the managing director of Jaguar Land Rover from March 1.

Rajan Amba succeeds Rohit Suri, who is due to retire on March 31.

His appointment comes at a time when JLR is facing supply chain issues that are impacting its production plans. The firm needs a massive electrification budget to compete against Europe’s premium auto majors such as Mercedes, Audi and BMW.

Thierry Bollore left as CEO of JLR last year for personal reasons, having spent about two years at the company after replacing interim CEO Adrian Mardell, an automotive industry veteran. Mardell himself had taken over from ex-BMW executive Ralf Speth, who had run the company for almost a decade.

Martin Limpert, Regional Director, Overseas, Jaguar Land Rover said, “Rajan’s customer-centric mindset, broad experience in different industries, and his passionate and authentic leadership approach bring the right set of qualities to further grow our operations into the promising future of India, aligned with our overall Reimagine strategy to become the creator of the world’s most desirable luxury vehicles and services for the most discerning of customers.”

Commenting on his appointment, Amba said, “I have immensely enjoyed my stint at Tata Motors and look forward to the next one at Jaguar Land Rover--an iconic automotive brands, which I hugely admire. I keenly look forward to working with my new team at Jaguar Land Rover India and steering forward our future growth strategy.”

Amba has contributed to the growth of Tata Motors Passenger Vehicle’s market share, developed commercial teams, and expanded its network. He has also been actively involved in the company’s cultural, diversity and inclusion programmes at Tata Motors.

He has worked with Titan subsidiary Carat Lane as the Chief Operating Officer, apart from beinh associated with Titan Watch and Tanishq.

A graduate in mechanical engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Calicut, Rajan did his MBA in Marketing from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai.