EVs likely to drag margins, working to overcome it: JLR

Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), which will electrify all its vehicles from 2020, has said the move could drag its margins but the firm is working to overcome it through cost saving steps.

The high cost of batteries and the “unknown factor” of how much and to what extent customers would be willing to pay for those batteries are major challenges, according to JLR CFO Ken Gregor. “Purely the impact of a growing proportion of battery in our portfolio over time, based on the present cost of battery tech, is likely to produce a drag on margins from that effect by itself...,” he told analysts.