Jaguar Land Rover charts road to electric future
NEW DELHI: Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), known for iconic sports cars and off-road sport-utility vehicles (SUVs), will turn its entire portfolio electric starting from about four years from now.
The dramatic shift in the Tata Motors Ltd unit’s corporate strategy underscores how automakers worldwide are scurrying for ways to adapt their businesses as emission norms tighten worldwide.
JLR chief executive officer (CEO) Thierry Bolloré, the former Renault CEO who took charge in September, said the new ‘Reimagine’ strategy will enable the British automaker to post double-digit operating margin—earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit)—and achieve positive cash flow in four years.
The company will invest about £2.5 billion a year to drive its electrification plans, develop connected services, and data
centric technologies for its luxury vehicles.
As part of the new strategy, Jaguar will be repositioned and redesigned as an all-electric luxury car brand by 2025. Land Rover will also evolve as a maker
of luxury electric SUVs with six pure electric variants of its Range Rover, Discovery and Defender models set to be launched in five years.
Electric vehicles (EVs) will make up 60% of Land Rover’s annual sales by 2030 and JLR will cease production and sales of combustion engine vehicles by 2036 as part of an overarching aim to become a ‘net zero carbon business’ (carbon neutral) by 2039. “We will reimagine Jaguar as a pure luxury EV brand with a new portfolio of emotive designs and next-generation technologies. We will reinforce Land Rover’s lead in luxury SUV segment with the purity of electrification. Two brands, two distinct personalities, connected by the elements of quality and sustainability that underpin JLR’s future of modern luxury by design,” Bolloré said in a virtual press meet on Monday.
He said the revamped strategy will provide a clear road map for both Jaguar and Land Rover and, overall, the company will become more agile with a more simplified manufacturing process while improving synergies in various areas of mobility with other companies of the Tata group.