Three new electric crossovers will take Jaguar into Bentley territory, with new platform, tech and design.
Jaguar is planning a trio of “jaw-dropping” electric sports crossovers to take the brand into Bentley territory from 2025.
The new two-tier, three-model line-up promises to dramatically recast Jaguar as a 50,000-60,000-per-year manufacturer of exclusive, electric, aluminium-rich cars.
These will be based on a single platform, named Panthera, utilise closely related mechanical packages and be made in Solihull.
When he became Jaguar Land Rover CEO two years ago, Thierry Bolloré made no secret of his plan to mirror the Range Rover ethos – and success – in a newly configured Jaguar line-up. Within months, the Jaguar design team had been heavily reshaped under Gerry McGovern, the Land Rover design chief who was elevated to the role of group creative director, but since then details have been extremely sketchy.
However, the latest intelligence suggests that while there will be no new Jaguar that could be truly described as entry-level, the smaller model (believed similar in size to the Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo) will adopt a similar role to the Range Rover Sport.
It will come in three-door and five-door bodies, positioned as separate models, with an entry price of around £80,000-£90,000 (around AUD$150,000)
Single-motor and dual-motor powertrains (with two and four-wheel drive), so its most powerful and best-equipped editions are very likely to push prices to $200k, above which Jaguar will doubtless see space for bespoke SVR models.
The flagship model, built on a 200mm-longer wheelbase and very deliberately configured to take advantage of demand in China and the US for big cars with luxurious rear cabin appointment and space, is likely to get a dual-motor, four-wheel-drive layout as standard.
JLR’s frequently criticised two-year silence on the progress of its Jaguar project is believed to be because its ringmasters, Bolloré and McGovern, are acutely aware of the risks associated with completely overhauling a company with such strong traditions as Jaguar; and according to fellow executive Nick Collins are determined to “have something great to show” before they take the wraps off their new models
Global sales in 2019, the last full year before Covid struck, amounted to some 55,000 for the Range Rover and 85,000 for the Range Rover Sport (not to mention 60,000 for the Range Rover Velar).
These figures certainly suggest that JLR has plenty of head room for Bolloré’s vision of a 50,000-per-year operation making expensive and exclusive Jaguars – as long as the market likes the cars.
The first model to give really strong guidance to the new Jaguars’ promised “incredibly exciting” design style is likely to be a near-production concept – the firm’s first show car since the Vision Gran Turismo, above. This is tipped to be revealed at a globally significant motor show in slightly more than two years’ time, towards the end of 2024.
Jaguar’s progress on EVs is currently being made more difficult by hold-ups and shortages in the supply chain.
JLR seems to have suffered more than most from the global scarcity of semiconductors.
However, the recent launches of the new Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Land Rover Defender 130 models are said to have cleared the decks for full concentration on the Jaguar rebirth project.
Steve Cropley
Keyword: Jaguar to launch three jaw dropping EVs in 2025