Jaguar and Land Rover boss dies

Jaguar and Land Rover’s Chief Executive Geoff Polites has died in his home country of Australia. He was 60.

The parent company, the Ford Motor Company, said Mr Polites died today after a two-year illness. Ford says additional details, including where in Australia that Mr Polites died, were not immediately available.

Ford credits Mr Polites with leading the team that returned the Jaguar and Land Rover business back to profitability and steering it through its ongoing sale process to India’s Tata Motors Ltd.

Ford says David Smith, Jaguar and Land Rover’s chief financial officer, will take over as the acting CEO at Jaguar and Land Rover until a successor is appointed.