British car brand Jaguar, which is part of the Jaguar Land Rover Group (JLR) — now owned by Tata Motors — will slowly phase out combustion engines. This will mean moving production away from the JLR Castle Bromwich plant to Solihull. Though, chief executive Thierry Bollore said JLR is “exploring opportunities to repurpose” the Castle Bromwich factory.
While Jaguar’s electric modular architecture EMA platform will accept hybrid powertrains, the company will only off full battery-electric vehicles. According to Jaguar, it plans to make all models electric with no discontinuations. These plans, however, have come at the expense of the planned electric Jaguar XJ, which is now no longer going ahead.
As well as the goal to go all-electric by 2025, Jaguar also aims to be net-zero by 2039. As part of this ambition, the company is looking at hydrogen fuel-cell power alongside battery-electric vehicles. Development is already underway with hydrogen fuel cell prototypes arriving on UK roads within the next 12 months.
As well as Jaguar going electric, Land Rover will deliver its first electric model by 2024. It will launch six electric models over the next five years but will continue to offer hybrid power until 2036.
Currently, JLR lacks the in-house expertise to produce electric vehicles as the manufacture of the i-Pace is currently outsourced to Austria. This means there will no doubt be a big shakeup at JLR to ensure it can continue to make the majority of its vehicles in the UK.
JLR’s annual commitments of around £2.5bn will include investments in electrification technologies and the development of connected services. This will enhance the journey and experiences of customers. These investments will run alongside a focus on data-centric technologies that will further improve the group’s internal ecosystem.
