Jaguar Might Go All-Electric Very Soon
Jaguar feels like a company slowly working their way towards a conclusion that makes them very nervous. Let’s rewind a bit and see what’s happening.
On July 22, 2016, Automobile Magazine publishes a report by Georg Kacher that Jaguar Land Rover and BMW are in talks to use a BMW V-8 in future JLR vehicles. The rationale being that JLR is spared the cost of developing a new, low-volume engine. BMW, for their part, gets the benefit of increased volume to help justify it. The real tea? People love the performance but big V8 engines are becoming dinosaurs that fewer and fewer people are willing to keep as pets.
In November of 2016, Jaguar shows the I-Pace concept at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Clearly in work for some time it lookes nearly ready for production.
In September 2017 Jaguar Land Rover announces that all product lines introduced after 2020 will have electrification in some form (mild hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and fully electric).
In January 2018, Autocar Magazine reports that the next generation XJ, to go on sale in 2019, will be fully electric. It is described as a “cutting-edge alternative to luxury saloons such as the BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz S-Class” with a five-door design. Tesla is credited as validating the hatchback design due to the success of the Model S.
In March 2018 the production I-Pace is revealed. Everybody loves it. The engineering is spot on and the design shows the packaging advantages of building a pure EV from the ground up.
On October 5, 2018, Road & Track publishes an interview with Jaguar’s Director of Design Ian Callum. Asked about rumors of a hybridized future F-Type, Callum states “This is not necessarily the plan. There’s not a plan, to be honest with you. […] I would like to do a mid-engine-style electric car, I think that would be the ultimate for me. Like a C-X75. You know, mid-cabin, mid-engined proportions, but electric. I think that would be a phenomenal car. And it’s in my head, and you know, probably a few scribbles here and there. But we haven’t committed to that.”
Finally, on October 12, 2018, Autocar Magazine publishes that Jaguar is considering a strategy in which all of Jaguar’s internal combustion cars would be phased out over the next five to seven years as they each reach the end of their design life and replaced with new fully electric vehicles.
As their model line ages, especially the very slow selling sedans, the question confronting Jaguar now is: What sort of company do they want to be?
It’s a bold plan being driven, in part, by very slow sales of the XE, XF, XJ sedans. It is almost certainly a bet-the-company wager that consumers will want electric vehicles in volume in the very near future.
The big question for JLR, and for their owners, Tata Motors: What does Jaguar want to be?
After a period of boldness after WWII, Jaguar became increasingly conservative after the departure and death of Sir William Lyons, eventually to the point of the extremely backwards-looking S-Type and X-Type during Ford’s ownership. You didn’t buy an S-Type because it was a great car, you bought it because it was like a stereotypical olde English pub inside with all the leather and wood.
In contrast, the XE, XF, and (current) XJ are extremely of the now. They’re stylish in the current idiom, have reasonably up to date technology, and they’re selling like cold cakes. Unless you have a particular fondness for Jaguar or things English, and I wouldn’t blame you for either, why would you buy one instead of a BMW or Mercedes? Those companies are playing in the same space but have vastly more resources to throw at product development.
This is the same problem faced by Alfa Romeo and Maserati. They’re too small to compete head on with the giants and so they try to do something different. Maserati will never, ever outsell Mercedes-Benz but if they bring something unique to the table they might find enough buyers to keep playing.
And so, Jaguar. One option is the conservative play: Cut costs, stretch out product cycles, share engines with other manufacturers, do lots of facelifts and special editions to keep interest up. Try to stay alive long enough until the situation improves. Think of this as the Lotus-XXL plan.
But my sense is that Lyons, if he were still alive, wouldn’t do that. Look around at the world. CO2 is slowly killing us, Tesla is an emotional (if not financial) success, it’s almost impossible to keep track of all the EV startups, and the I-Pace is the most exciting and interesting thing Jaguar has done in years. Jaguar could, if they choose to do so, keep turning their design needle from retro, through present day, and towards the future. The I-Pace shows they’ve got the design and engineering talent, they just need the nerve. Think of this as the 747 plan, so-called because, in the mid-1960s, Boeing saw the future and bet the company on the giant new airplane.
So, Jaguar, what’s it going to be? There’s no fate but what we make.
