Jaguar’s Mike O’Driscoll calls it a day

Mike O'Driscoll, Jaguar's M.D., is to retire in march 2011.

Jaguar’s Managing Director Mike O’Driscoll has been a Jaguar man for longer than he probably cares to remember. In fact he joined Jaguar Rover Triumph (as it then was) as long ago as 1975, when he was a young business student.

The big move for Mike came in 1987 when he was appointed marketing and product planning manager for Jaguar Cars North America, when he upped sticks and moved to the former colony. That move eventually lead to Mike being appointed Managing Director of Jaguar in 2007, and a return to the UK.

Mike’s big task has been to guide Jaguar in its transition from a Blue Oval badge to a part of Tata. It’s to Mike’s credit that his stewardship at the helm has seen Jaguar restored to glory, with a world beating range of cars, strong sales and profitability.

As there’s nothing better than leaving on a high, Mike has decided to retire in March 2011 and hand Jaguar over to a new – as yet unnamed – pair of hands. But once a Jaguar man, always a Jaguar man means Mike won’t be completely cutting off ties. He is expected to stay as Chairman of Jaguar Heritage. Which sounds more like a prize than a job. We wish Mike well in his retirement and his return to the States.

Where at least he won’t have to listen to idiots like us bemoaning his mid-Atlantic pronunciations.

By Cars UK