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Interesting Info About All Things Land Rover
Interesting Info About All Things Land Rover

Longtime Land Rover Engineer Mike Cross Retires

  • Greg Fitzgerald
  • Jan 21, 2022
Land Rover engineer Mike Cross driving a Jaguar

One of Land Rover’s most senior engineers, Mike Cross, is retiring after 37 years with the company. His replacement, Matt Becker, comes from Aston Martin.

Mike Cross joined Land Rover in 1978 as a student apprentice with what was then Jaguar Rover Triumph, one of the various permutations of British automakers that were grouped together during periods of government management of the British auto industry. Cross spent a lot of his career with Jaguar, before coming back to Land Rover with the re-fused company in the 2000s.

Cross is responsible for the road feel that all JLR products have – the feeling of driving on a cloud that's immune to imperfections in the road, but also having a vehicle that’s instantly responsive. His final role was in charge of Vehicle Targets and Sign-Off Director as a Chief Engineer. He is notorious in the auto industry for how meticulous he is, tracing every imperfection in a vehicle’s suspension to create what has become a trademark ride of both brands’ vehicles. JLR tests their vehicles on a combination of roads of varying quality in Europe to make sure that they can remain comfortable anywhere in the world – from Wales to Washington to Wenzhou to Wollongong. The roadfeel of a Land Rover or Jaguar is a direct result of his input.

His first work for Land Rover after they came under the same umbrella as Jaguar during the Ford years was the LR3, a groundbreaking seminal vehicle for the company that was the first Discovery to bring all-around comfort to the ride. He had a commanding hand in the chassis of every Land Rover vehicle since.

In 2019, he was given Autocar's Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his chassis engineering work. Sir Jackie Stewart said he was "the best driver outside motor racing."

His quasi-replacement – Cross’ retirement will result in some new roles in the engineering department, apparently – is Matt Becker, the former Chief Engineer from Aston Martin. He oversaw the DBX SUV and the DB11 and new Vantage. He will play a major role in helping convert Jaguar into an all-electric brand. Though he was originally expected to move to McLaren after a mandatory on-payroll “gardening leave” (to prevent him taking Aston’s latest secrets to a new company), he decided apparently that JLR was a better fit.

Presumably, the trademark ride that Cross was so protective of will continue as the hallmark of these two brands.

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  • Written By
  • Greg Fitzgerald
  • Adventure addict. '90s Land Rover daily driver. Historic preservationist. Personal vehicles: 1994 Discovery I, 1994 Range Rover Classic, 1961 Series II 109", 2005 LR3.
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