Look for a dramatically different series of Jaguars to appear in showrooms by 2025, company officials said Wednesday, as the company plans to launch a four-door GT, one of three new electrified Jaguars slated to appear in select markets next year before having more wide-ranging distribution the following year.
The vehicles will be built in the company’s Solihull plant in the West Midlands using its own unique Jaguar Electrified Architecture, or JEA, developed at a reported cost of £1 billion, or $1.24 billion.
The new model is expected to have a range up to 430 miles, and start at nearly $125,000.
It would be the first new Jaguar electric vehicle since the Electric XJ, a model that was killed just as it was about to be launched, and described by those who saw it as stunning. Nevertheless, executives felt that they wouldn’t be able to ensure good sales as the sedans of all stripes have been losing customers to SUVs and crossovers.
It left the brand selling the aging, but excellent, Jaguar I-Pace EV that went on sale in June 2018.
What’s in store at Jaguar
Instead, Jaguar will launch this new GT, one that Jaguar Land Rover Chief Creative Officer Gerry McGovern promises will be jaw dropping. “We have radically reimagined Jaguar as a modern luxury brand. The key to Jaguar’s transformation is that the designs convey that they are a copy of nothing,” McGovern said, echoing the sentiment of Jaguar founder Sir William Lyons.
The company is expected to release more details later this year, although Automotive News Europe reports future Jaguars will borrow from the legendary look of vehicles like the E-Type but they will be completely redesigned and fearless.
According to the report, 18 potential future Jaguar models have been developed during the past two years.
Part of a larger plan
There hasn’t been much news on Jaguar Land Rover’s “Reimagine” electrification strategy, which calls for the business to transition to an all-electric luxury automaker by the end of the decade, with Jaguar becoming all-electric in 2025.
To help achieve these objectives, the automaker disclosed on Wednesday that it will invest £15 billion, or $18.66 billion, during the next five years to convert its Halewood plant in Merseyside, United Kingdom, into an all-electric vehicle manufacturing facility, utilizing its upcoming medium-size SUV electrified modular architecture (EMA).
In addition, the Engine Manufacturing Center in Wolverhampton is being renamed Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Center, where the company plans to manufacture electric components.
Range Rover cousin coming soon
But it might be that Range Rover beats Jaguar to market, as an all-electric Range Rover is slated for 2024. While little is yet known about the vehicle, online reports suggest that it will be underpinned by Land Rover’s long-wheelbase, three-row platform.
“We are accelerating our electrification path, making one of our UK plants and our next-generation medium-size luxury SUV architecture fully electric,” said Jaguar Land Rover Chief Executive Adrian Mardell, in a statement. “This investment enables us to deliver our modern luxury electric future, developing new skills, and reaffirming our commitment to be net zero carbon by 2039.”
Already building electrified vehicles
It’s not Jaguar Land Rover’s first dalliance with electrified vehicles as Land Rover currently sells the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport as mild hybrid electric vehicles (MHEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).
In addition, the Range Rover Velar and Evoque, along with the Land Rover Defender and Discovery are available as MHEVs as well. And then there’s the mostly ignored battery-electric Jaguar I-Pace, although its place as the first electric Jaguar makes it a far more important model than most people realize, one that paved the way for all-electric Jaguars to come.
“With Range Rover, the original luxury SUV, available for pre-order in pure electric form later this year, and the first of three breath-taking electric reimagined Jaguar models to be launched in 2025, we are stepping into an incredibly exciting new electric era for JLR as a modern luxury business,” Mardell said.