Jaguar reimagined: its premium vision exclusively with electric vehicles in detail

 

Jaguar is looking to reinvent itself with a new strategy and return as a low-volume, all-electric brand from 2025. Jaguar CEO Rawdon Glover told CAR magazine the new plan will start with three new models - all based on a new EV platform with a bold exterior design to usher in the new era.

Glover made these comments at JLR's recently opened technology center in Portland, Oregon, and on the eve of two crucial rounds of the Formula E championship: Jaguar drivers Nick Cassidy and Mitch Evans currently hold first and third place in the championship.

Read on to find out everything you need to know about Jaguar’s next all-electric chapter.

Jaguar electric vehicles: the plan

"Jaguar has been in the luxury segment for most of its history," Glover said. "The company was known for making beautiful vehicles, very desirable, sophisticated vehicles. For the last 25 years we have perhaps been more in the volume-oriented premium segment, and that is not where we believe we should continue to be."

Jaguar is aiming for global sales of just under 100,000 units for its first car - a four-door GT that will cost around £100,000, the same as the Porsche Taycan . "It will be significantly better than today," the CEO admitted. "We are bringing Jaguar back to its rightful place. At the end of the day, we will have a significantly reduced product range."

The plan will come into effect early next year, with all of Jaguar's current combustion and hybrid models being phased out before the new era begins. "Everything we sell today will be scrapped in various locations around the world," Glover confirmed. "The earliest start will probably be the end of this calendar year."

The new platform, called JEA (Jaguar Electric Architecture), is exclusive to Jaguar and is not currently used anywhere else in the JLR group. The battery will ultimately come from parent company Tata, but Glover said there will be "an interim solution until they go live".

How powerful is the new electric Jaguar GT?

Power will vary depending on the trim chosen, but the range-topping model, equivalent to the SVR, will develop around 1000PS or 986bhp, according to CAR. This will make the four-door GT the most powerful road-going Jaguar ever built.

"We think there are a lot of people who want the most power, the most acceleration and the most V-Max [top speed] capability and all of those things," Glover said. He predicted that 10 to 15 percent of the brand's new customers will come from the higher end of other JLR products, while other potential customers are likely to be a younger, more urban audience - and one that already has several cars on the driveway. "The focus will be very much on new customer sales," the Jaguar boss confirmed.

The EPA range should be over 700 kilometers, or around 430 miles. Thanks to fast charging, Jaguar is aiming for a charge to 80% in just 20 minutes. The new architecture will probably be 800 volts, but this has not yet been confirmed.

Formula E technology transfer

Jaguar has increased its performance in Formula E over the past three to four years, but has not been able to properly incorporate its success – and its technology – into its production car program. That now seems to be changing, as the new JEA platform already benefits from the know-how from the all-electric racing series.

"The big opportunity for us is technology transfer," revealed Glover. "Our use of silicon carbide and transmission oil, as well as our approach to heat dissipation on the chipsets, for example, will be transferred directly to the new vehicles."

"There are a lot of things where it gives us a real edge , and that's one of the reasons we have such a credible EPA range for the vehicle."

The vehicles will be manufactured and designed in Solihull, and plans are already underway to create the tooling and infrastructure to build these vehicles.

A new, bolder design

The new platform will be wrapped in a design language that is completely new for Jaguar, which Glover says is different to the streamlined, forward-facing electric cars that other brands are currently trending towards. And Jaguar is starting with the four-door GT first, as it is the ultimate canvas for the brand's bold new design.

"It's the purest interpretation," Glover said of the first model. "All the cars have a very consistent design, but in terms of the purest interpretation, we thought it would be better as a brand statement to start with a four-door rather than the best-selling model."

"They all have great driving characteristics," Glover said of the new range. In addition, the hip-knee position of the new four-door GT will be identical to that of the current F-Type: "It's not a pure sports car, but a beautiful GT touring car, which we felt would give us the right driving position."

The Jaguar Leaper remains, albeit in a more modern form, and the SVR trim is expected to survive the transition to electric. Jaguar will also offer a similar level of bespoke feel to other brands in the same premium segment. A bespoke service or extremely limited editions will be an important part of the new product cycle.

The new Jaguars will be "exuberant, fearless and breathtaking," said Professor Gerry McGovern, JLR's creative director and head of design, earlier this year. The inspiration was Jaguar founder Sir William Lyons' philosophy that Jaguars should be "a copy of nothing."

What about the other electric Jaguars?

not comment on what shape the next electric Jaguar will take, but suggested that we should "look where the volume market for electric vehicles above $100,000 is in terms of body style ."

That's almost certainly code for an SUV or smaller crossover, especially considering that brands like Bentley and Porsche regularly come up in conversations.

What about the timing?

"Towards the end of the year we will be more public about the brand itself and the changes to the Jaguar brand," said Glover. "The design language that will essentially underpin all future Jaguars will be presented at the end of the year."

The four-door model will be presented at the end of this year or early next year, with deliveries in North America beginning in the fourth quarter of 2025 at the latest. The second model will be presented by 2026.

"We can't just change the product, we have to change the whole brand world," concluded Glover. "We have to change the way we position it, the way we market it, we have to change the way we sell the car, the kind of experiences we create in the retail network."

We will update this article when we know more.