Jaguar cars to become all-electric from 2025
JLR to spend $3.5 bn annually on electrification
Tata Motors-owned British luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover, or JLR, plans to make its coveted Jaguar brand to be an 'all-electric luxury brand' to rival Tesla from 2025.
The move will see Jaguar completely axe the petrol engines that made its name within the next four years.
JLR will invest about 2.5 billion pounds ($3.5 billion) annually into electrification and related connected technologies, the company said on Monday.
It plans to introduce six fully electric Land Rover variants in the next five years and aims to electrify all its models by 2030, it said.
JLR’s new chief exectutive officer Thierry Bollore made the announcement on Monday, with the new 'Reimagine' strategy also committing to retaining its production facilities in the UK. Bollore said Land Rover will phase out diesel engines from 2026 and invest more heavily in hydrogen fuel cell technology.
JLR said it will have prototypes using hydrogen fuel cells on Britain’s roads within the next year, as part of a long-range investment plan.
JLR has introduced plugin hybrid variants of models, including the Range Rover Sport and new Defender, but its only fully electric vehicle is the IPace SUV, which it started selling in 2018. Car companies the world over are following zeroemission strategies to meet tough carbon dioxide emission targets in Europe and China.
Jaguar Land Rover is one of the hardest hit by the downturn in demand for diesel vehicles in recent years.
Its range of models across both brands relied heavily on diesel engines, which have seen sales tumble in the years since the German Volkswagen emissions cheating scandal rattled the industry in 2015.
Ballore was drafted into JLR last July.
JLR said it was a “on a path towards” a doubledigit operating profit and positive cash flow, and aims to achieve positive cash without debt by 2025.
Melbourne, Feb. 15: Rafael Nadal outclassed Fabio Fognini to close in on the all-time Grand Slam titles record on Monday as Ashleigh Barty ramped up hopes of becoming the Australian Open’s first home winner in 43 years.
Nadal said his lower-back stiffness was continuing to improve after his 6-3, 6-4, 62 against the flamboyant Italian, which set up a quarter-final against Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Fognini had registered a five-set win over Nadal at the 2015 US Open, but the Spaniard cantered to victory after recovering from 2-4 down in the second set.
Nadal is now into his 43rd Grand Slam quarter-final, staying on course for a title match with eight-time winner Novak Djokovic who battled through an abdominal injury to reach the last eight on Sunday.
Next up for Nadal is world number six Tsitsipas, who went through on a walkover after Italy’s Matteo Berrettini pulled out with an abdominal strain.
As the action continued in front of empty stands, top-ranked Barty beat bighitting American Shelby Rogers in impressive fashion to reach the last eight.
Barty won 6-3, 6-4 to go into the quarter-finals without dropping a set as she bids to become the first Australian champion since Chris O’Neil in 1978.
The former French Open champion next plays Karolina Muchova, who came through two tight sets to beat Belgium’s Elise Mertens 7-6 (7/5), 7-5.
RUSSIANS ARE COMING
Earlier, unseeded American Jessica Pegula reached her maiden Grand Slam quarter-final with victory over Elina Svitolina, her first over a top-10 player.
Pegula, whose billionaire father owns the Buffalo Bills NFL team, overcame fifth seed Svitolina 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to set up a meeting with fellow American Jennifer Brady, a 6-1, 7-5 winner against Croatia’s Donna Vekic.
Elsewhere, fourth seed Daniil Medvedev and seventh seed Andrey Rublev both won to ensure an allRussian quarter-final.
Medvedev blew away American world number 192 Mackenzie McDonald 64, 6-2, 6-3 to extend his winning streak to 18 matches.
Rublev, who is also unbeaten this year, went through when Norway’s Casper Ruud retired after losing the first two sets.
The clientele is now giving priority to responsible buying. They are looking for products which are reusable. Sustainability is a factor that they
Dutch fashion house Viktor & Rolf Snoeren repurposed their leftover clothing and materials into new pieces based on their older designs
The fashion industry is among the most environmentally damaging. Every year, millions of tonnes of clothing end up in the bin. But some designers have been working to ensure that the damage is minimised. There is a growing band of visionaries — young designers — who turn this waste into brilliant fashion by finding ingenious ways to give discarded items a second life.
PATCHING UP
“Trashion is a fashion philosophy that combines environmentalism with innovation,” says designer Kunal Rawal. “Our consumers and the industry are shifting focus to sustainability, conscious consumption, and most of all, hand-made, local, and oneof-a-kind of pieces. We have incorporated a zerowaste pattern cutting process to minimise wastage and we use the surplus bits for patchwork,” he explains. Some
— VARUN CHAKKILAM, fashion designer
are upcycling their garments with patchwork. Dutch fashion house Viktor & Rolf has used fabrics leftover from past seasons to create haute-couture garments. They have also turned the sample swatches sent to them by suppliers over the years to good use as patchwork components.
RE-DESIGN AND RE-USE
Fashion as we know it is changing. Consumers are becoming more aware of the negative implications of the industry and brands are facing increasing scrutiny over their environmental impact. “There is a lot of awareness about the need to upcycle and reuse. As industries improve and science takes over, recyclable clothes will become mainstream,” feels designer Pallavi Singhee, founder of Verb. Designer Jayati Goenka is of the opinion that, for the trashion trend to really make an impact, the wider fashion market needs to participate in the initiative. “The textiles we wear are made from precious natural resources which makes a massive environmental impact. The majority of our clothes are made of plastic-based materials, which shed microfibres into waterways and endanger human health and the ecosystems,” Jayati notes.
“We have been working on upcycling the rejects and the leftovers by repairing the flaws in the garments or fabrics and enhancing them with various traditional
handwork techniques like Japanese sashiko and Bagru block-printing. The aim is to redefine and re-design,” Jayati adds.