Currently reading: Land Rover's McGovern honoured with OBE
Design boss recognised 'for services to automotive design'

Land Rover design chief Gerry McGovern has been recognised as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2020 New Year’s Honours List.

The British firm's design director has helped shape a major overhaul of Land Rover's range, with a key role in developing key models such as the Range Rover Evoque and Velar, and styling the reborn Defender that was unveiled earlier this year.

McGovern is one of 229 people due to receive the OBE from Her Majesty The Queen, and is the only UK automotive industry figure among almost a thousand in total to be recognised on the wider list of OBEs, MBEs, CBEs and other awards.

McGovern, 63, now has a design career stretching back more than four decades, and including early stints at Chrysler UK and Austin Rover Group. While at the latter, he led several key Land Rover model replacement programs.

After working at Lincoln and Ford/Ingeni, he returned to Land Rover as director of advanced design in 2004, appointed by Ford design supremo J Mays. He was appointed design director of Land Rover, in 2006 and as chief creative officer for the brand in 2008.

READ MORE

Gerry McGovern on the Defender and future projects

Gerry McGovern on the challenge of reinventing an icon

Behind the scenes at Land Rover's design studio

Matt Saunders

Matt Saunders Autocar
Title: Road test editor

As Autocar’s chief car tester and reviewer, it’s Matt’s job to ensure the quality, objectivity, relevance and rigour of the entirety of Autocar’s reviews output, as well contributing a great many detailed road tests, group tests and drive reviews himself.

Matt has been an Autocar staffer since the autumn of 2003, and has been lucky enough to work alongside some of the magazine’s best-known writers and contributors over that time. He served as staff writer, features editor, assistant editor and digital editor, before joining the road test desk in 2011.

Since then he’s driven, measured, lap-timed, figured, and reported on cars as varied as the Bugatti Veyron, Rolls-Royce PhantomTesla RoadsterAriel Hipercar, Tata Nano, McLaren SennaRenault Twizy and Toyota Mirai. Among his wider personal highlights of the job have been covering Sebastien Loeb’s record-breaking run at Pikes Peak in 2013; doing 190mph on derestricted German autobahn in a Brabus Rocket; and driving McLaren’s legendary ‘XP5’ F1 prototype. His own car is a trusty Mazda CX-5.

Join the debate

Comments
12
Add a comment…
sabre 29 December 2019

OBE

Land Rover's Reliability Departmet honoured with OMG

Peter Cavellini 28 December 2019

Really

 Well, who does, in the Car industry deserve a "Sir", according to and based on what's been posted?

Rods 28 December 2019

Congrats

Every designer has a dud or two in their body of work, and McGovern is no exception. But he's also done some great design work over the years, from the forward looking MG-EXE of the 80's, to the original Freelander, to the solid and instantly recognisable design language used on modern Range/Land Rovers. He has some great designs in the can, and I think this award is well deserved. It's easy to poo poo a designers work from behind a keyboard, but to excel in your chosen field like McGovern has done is definitely no mean feat.

eseaton 29 December 2019

What other car company has,

What other car company has, or had, a self-appointed 'celebrity' car designer?

Aside from the occasional Brexit moan from Sir Ralph Speth, it is as if the board of Land Rover doesn't exist.

Do they have a head of engineering?