Currently reading: Jaguar Land Rover parent Tata Sons ousts chairman Cyrus Mistry

The holding company behind Jaguar Land Rover has switched back to its former leader in a surprise move

Tata Group’s holding company Tata Sons has ousted its chairman Cyrus Mistry in a surprise move that has brought former leader Ratan Tata back to the helm.

Tata Sons, which owns Jaguar Land Rover parent company Tata Group, gave no reason for the change. But the company has suffered a slow down in recent months, with annual turnover decreasing by £4 billion to £84 billion in the last financial year.

Ousted leader Mistry has lead Tata Sons since 2012, when he replaced the now 78-year-old Ratan Tata. Tata Sons said returning chairman Ratan Tata would only temporarily fill its leadership role while a new chair is found.

In an announcement made to his board today, the interim chairman said: “I look forward to working with you as we have worked together in the past. An institution must exceed the people who lead it. I am proud of all of you, and let us continue to build the group together.”

Ratan Tata asked the leaders of the group’s companies to remain focused and suggested the change in chairman would largely have no effect on business. “If there is any change, it will be discussed with you,” he added.

Tata’s British brand Jaguar Land Rover has suffered from the fall in value of the pound following the Brexit vote, reporting a 37% decline in its pre-tax profits for the last quarter. But it has also achieved large growth in sales in recent months so is not expected to be impacted by the change in Tata leadership.

Ratan Tata and board members Venu Srinivasan, Amit Chandra and Ronen Sen will be responsible for finding the new Tata Sons chairman.

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Bullfinch 26 October 2016

No-one knows, no-one cares.

This sort of thing suggests Autocar staff should stick to writing about cars rather than trying to be a kind of pound-shop Economist.
devil's advocate 26 October 2016

Do they know about cars these days

Bullfinch wrote:

This sort of thing suggests Autocar staff should stick to writing about cars rather than trying to be a kind of pound-shop Economist.

Given a badly written article like this, I very much doubt they do.

jer 25 October 2016

Yep

Manufacturing costs would be lower relative to sales depending on the impact of imported parts and raw materials. Could it be results are reported in $ and therefore profits in £s need to be converted at a weaker exchange rate? Maybe the need a bit of financial structuring to retain profits in currencies other than £s and then change $s ???
eseaton 25 October 2016

Second last paragraph is

Second last paragraph is gobbledegook. A fall in sterling would be generally good not bad. And why does a large growth in sales mean it will not be impacted by a change in leadership?
devil's advocate 25 October 2016

It is the parent company......

....that changed its head honcho so therefore the change at the top probably have no impact whatsoever on Jaguar Land Rover.