The chief executive of British luxury icons Jaguar and Land Rover, Geoff Polites, has died in Australia where he was visiting family, Ford Australia said Monday. He was 60. Polites, a former president of Ford Australia, is credited with leading Jaguar and Land Rover through the on-going sale from Ford to India's Tata Motors Ltd.
The deal is set to net the ailing US carmaker 2.3 billion dollars. Ford Australia president Bill Osborne said Polites died in Melbourne on the weekend after a long illness, but did not specify what had caused his death. "Geoff was home in Australia for the birth of his first grandchild and, unfortunately, became critically ill while here," he said in a statement. "He passed away with his wife and family by his side."
Osborne said Melbourne-born Polites was determined, despite his illness, to return the prestige motor brands to profitability after taking on the top post in 2005. Polites joined Ford Australia in 1970 as a product planner and trained in the US and Europe before returning to Australia in 1975 as marketing and research manager. In 1988 he resigned to work with a Ford dealership in Sydney but rejoined Ford Australia a year later as its president.
Comments
Comments are closed.