Jaguar’s continued participation in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship appears to have been boosted by the manufacturer announcing a major new strategy centred on exclusively on electric vehicles.
Jaguar Land Rover unveiled the programme, which is to be known as the “Reimagine strategy”, on Monday. It will have an emphasis on “true sustainability” and all future Jaguar models will be built exclusively as electric vehicles.
The move will mean Jaguar Land Rover positions itself in the luxury market but with 100% electrified models. Six pure electric Land Rovers were announced after new CEO Thierry Bollore mapped out the future for the JLR business this morning.
Jaguar entered Formula E in 2016 specifically to market future electric designs including the successful I-Type product and also promote the company’s “destination zero” objective of working towards “zero emissions, zero accidents and zero congestion”.
JLR, which has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Motors since 2008, now has an objective to achieve net zero carbon emissions “across its supply chain, products and operations” by 2039. It is also planning for clean fuel-cell power projects ‘in line with a maturing of the hydrogen economy.’
Jaguar Racing has activated heavily in and around what has been its first global racing programme since the ill-fated F1 project, which ran between 2000 and 2004 after it bought the Stewart F1 team.
The Formula E project has seen some success with two E-Prix wins at Rome in 2019 and at Mexico City in 2020.
The team recently made a high profile signing when it contracted Sam Bird from Envision Virgin Racing to join Mitch Evans who has been an ever-present in the team since its inception.
Speculation on whether Jaguar will commit to the Gen3 era of Formula E has gathered since both Mahindra and DS became the first two to confirm future in the new world championship over the last two months.
“We’re focused very much on season seven and season eight and maximising our performance but obviously at the same time we are looking at the future,” said Jaguar team principal James Barclay on The Race’s Formula E podcast.
“I can’t tell you today exactly what we are planning but I look forward to announcing plans in the near future. But overall there are positive discussions.”
In addition to today’s brand positioning and product confirmation, the announcement also outlined changes to manufacturing and management plans in the UK.
“Jaguar Land Rover is unique in the global automotive industry,” said Bolloré.
“Designers of peerless models, an unrivalled understanding of the future luxury needs of its customers, emotionally rich brand equity, a spirit of Britishness and unrivalled access to leading global players in technology and sustainability within the wider Tata Group.
“We are harnessing those ingredients today to reimagine the business, the two brands and the customer experience of tomorrow. ‘The Reimagine’ strategy allows us to enhance and celebrate that uniqueness like never before. Together, we can design an even more sustainable and positive impact on the world around us.”
The initially planned Jaguar XJ replacement, which was set to be electric, will now not happen.
This project was earmarked for the Castle Bromwich plant in the UK which is now set to be “re-purposed,” according to Bolloré – who was responding to a question in a press conference from The Financial Times’ global motor industry correspondent Peter Campbell.
JLR confirmed that it will offer “pure electric power, nameplate by nameplate, by 2030”, and aims to have “almost zero ICE” sales by 2036,” according to Bolloré.
