Tata Motors-backed Jaguar Land Rover will be investing 15 billion pounds (or around $18.66 billion) over the next five years as it plans to expand its electric vehicle footprint, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. JLR said that its Halewood plant in the U.K. will become an all-electric production facility and its next generation medium-size SUV architecture, electrified modular architecture (EMA), will now be pure-electric.
The U.K-based luxury car maker will start to invite applications for client orders for the modern luxury all-electric Range Rover later this year. The first of its next-generation medium-size modern luxury SUVs will be an all-electric model from the Range Rover family, launching in 2025 and built at Halewood in Merseyside.
The company plans to become an electric-first, modern luxury carmaker by 2030, by achieving a net cash-positive position by FY25 and double-digit EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) by 2026.
"Two years ago, we launched our Reimagine strategy and since then we have made great progress, including launching two new critically acclaimed modern luxury Range Rover and Range Rover Sport models, joining the Defender family, for which there is record demand. We achieved this while navigating the headwinds of the pandemic and chip shortages, and successfully ramping up production of our most profitable models to deliver profit in Q3," said Adrain Mardell, CEO, Jaguar Land Rover.
"Today I am proud to announce we are accelerating our electrification path, making one of our UK plants and our next-generation medium-size luxury SUV architecture fully electric. 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," he added.
As part of the Reimagine strategy, Jaguar will move to a House of Brands approach, to amplify the unique character of each of its brands such as Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar, according to the company.
"Pivotal to our Reimagine strategy is the formation of the House of Brands, which is a natural evolution, with the purpose of elevating and amplifying the uniqueness of our characterful British marques. Our ultimate ambition is to build truly emotionally engaging experiences for our clients that, over time, will build long-term high equity for our brands and long-term sustainability for JLR," said Professor Ferry McGovern, Chief Creative Officer, Jaguar Land Rover.
Jaguar also announced that the first of three reimagined modern luxury Jaguars will be a 4-door GT built in Solihull in the West Midlands, UK. With power output more than any previous Jaguar, a range of up to 700 kms (430 miles), and indicative pricing from £100,000, the new Jaguar will be built on its own unique architecture, named JEA. More details of the new 4-door GT Jaguar will be released later this year, before going on sale in selected markets in 2024, for client deliveries in 2025.
"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.
The company also said that its engine manufacturing centre in Wolverhampton, UK, which is currently producing ingenium internal combustion engines for its vehicles, will have an electric future producing electric drive units and battery packs for Jaguar Land Rover’s next generation vehicles. It will be renamed the Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre to reflect the move. With this, the company said that its stamping facilities that prepare pressed body metalwork for Jaguar Land Rovers vehicles will be expanded to play a key role in the company’s electric future, by providing bodywork for next-generation electric vehicles.
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