Jaguar Land Rover CEO Thierry Bollore in February made the shock announcement that Jaguar’s full lineup will consist exclusively of electric vehicles as soon as 2025.
But the automaker doesn’t plan to simply redesign current models like the XF sedan and F-Pace crossover with battery-electric power. Instead, it plans a full reboot that will see new model lines introduced and the lineup likely pruned.
It’s going to be a long wait for new product, though. Citing comments made by Philippe Robbrecht, head of Jaguar Land Rover’s French arm, Le Monde reported on Tuesday that no new Jaguar model will be launched before 2025.
This is because Jaguar is taking its time to develop models capable of competing with the likes of Aston Martin, Bentley and Maserati, rather than the high-volume German brands it currently competes against.
Thierry Bollore
This is backed by comments made by Bollore in a press conference following Feb.’s announcement, where he said, “we will reposition completely the Jaguar brand.” He also said in the conference that the repositioning is why plans for an electric XJ originally due in 2020 were scrapped. Plans for a mid-size crossover to be called the J-Pace were also scrapped.
Key to the repositioning will be the development of a battery-electric platform exclusive to Jaguar. As mentioned above, the lineup will likely be pruned, but this should also help reduce costs and as a result lower the company’s break-even point.
Note, Jaguar’s EV platform, whether developed internally or, as is more likely to be the case, sourced from a supplier, will be separate from Land Rover. Land Rover will have two platforms of its own, both of them designed to support hybrid and battery-electric vehicles. The first of these, the MLA platform, made its debut in the 2022 Range Rover.
Unlike Jaguar, Land Rover will offer vehicles with internal-combustion engines even beyond 2030, albeit in hybrid configuration only by then. As for EVs, Land Rover has said its first will arrive in 2024 in the form of an electric Range Rover. It will then add five more EVs by 2026.
