Land Rover CEO Passed Away

[Slam]

[IMGA=right]http://bp2.blogger.com/_0vH5oYw5D-I/R1LD9e91KtI/AAAAAAAABo0/AuXopOOW-3g/s400/Geoff+Polites+and+Elysium.jpg[/IMGA]Land Rover's Chief Executive Geoff Polites, who is credited with steering the storied British luxury brands through the ongoing sale process to India's Tata Motors Ltd., has died. He was 60.

Polites died Sunday in his home country of Australia after battling serious illness for the past two years, Ford Motor Co. said. Additional details, including where in Australia he died, weren't released.

Dearborn-based Ford credits Polites with leading the team that returned the overall Jaguar and Land Rover business back to profitability. Ford said Sunday it still anticipates completing the deal with Tata in the second quarter.

 

[joey]

More info

Former Ford Australia chief Geoff Polites dies

* April 21, 2008 - 7:31AM
*

Geoff Polites, chief executive officer of Ford Motor Co.'s U.K.-based Jaguar and Land Rover luxury-car unit and former Ford Australia chief, died on Sunday after a two-year illness, the company said. He was 60.

Polites took over as chief executive of Jaguar in 2005, and was orchestrating the sale of the business to India's Tata Motors Ltd. for $US2.3 billion ($2.5 billion), the company said in a statement. He died in Australia, Ford said. Further details weren't disclosed.

Polites joined Ford in 1970 and became president of its Australian unit in May 1999, boosting production of new models and becoming president of the Canberra-based Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries. In 2004, he became Ford's vice president for marketing, sales and service in Europe and was named head of Jaguar and Land Rover the following year.

''Geoff's untimely passing robs his family and friends of a man who was a real inspiration to us all,'' said Alan Mulally, Ford's chief executive officer, in the statement.

David Smith, the Jaguar and Land Rover unit's chief financial officer, will take over as acting chief executive until a successor is found, Ford said.

The sale of Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata was announced March 26 and is due to be completed by the end of the second quarter, pending regulatory approval. Tata will spend $US2.3 billion on the purchase and Ford will contribute about $US600 million to Jaguar-Land Rover pension funds.

''Geoff has given Jaguar-Land Rover the solid foundation and established the strong management team it needs for a successful future,'' said Lewis Booth, executive vice president responsible for Ford's businesses in Europe, in a statement.

 

[Slam]

Thanks Joey!