JLR to spend $18.6 billion to make EVs, hints all-electric Range Rover by end 2023
The luxury carmaker revealed that its Halewood plant in Merseyside, UK, will become its first all-electric manufacturing facility and its next-generation medium-size SUV architecture - electrified modular architecture (EMA) - will also become pure-electric.
Tata Motors-owned British luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) on Wednesday announced that it will invest around $18.6 billion (£15 billion) over five years to improve its industrial footprint, vehicle programmes, autonomous, AI and digital technologies and people skills.
JLR’s Chief Executive Adrian Mardell, in a statement, said, “Two years ago, we launched our Reimagine strategy and since then we have made great progress… We achieved this while navigating the headwinds of the pandemic and chip shortages, and successfully ramping up production of our most profitable models to deliver profit in Q3.”
The company’s Reimagine strategy aims to reposition the company as an electric-first, modern luxury carmaker by 2030, achieve a net cash positive position by FY25 and double-digit EBIT by 2026. “This investment enables us to deliver our modern luxury electric future, developing new skills, and reaffirming our commitment to be net zero carbon by 2039,” he added.
The luxury carmaker further revealed that its Halewood plant in Merseyside, UK, will become its first all-electric manufacturing facility and its next-generation medium-size SUV architecture — electrified modular architecture (EMA) — will also become pure-electric.
JLR further said that its Wolverhampton-based engine manufacturing centre in the UK will also be renamed Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre.
Next-generation JLR EVs
JLR, while announcing its next-generation electrification roadmap, said it will start bookings for an all-electric Range Rover later this year. The luxury carmaker’s next-generation medium-size modern luxury SUV will be an all-electric Range Rover model. It will be launched in 2025 and built at Halewood in Merseyside.
JLR also plans to retain the modular longitudinal architecture (MLA) architecture, on which Range Rover and Range Rover Sport are built, to offer internal combustion engine (ICE), HYBRID and battery electric vehicle (BEV) options for global market variances.
JLR also announced that the first of three vehicles under its Reimagine strategy will be a 4-door GT built in Solihull in the West Midlands, UK. The company also revealed that this new car will generate more power output than any previous Jaguar, get a driving range of up to 700 km on a single charge and is likely to start from £100,000.
As part of the Reimagine strategy, JLR revealed that it would move to a House of Brands approach. Gerry McGovern, Chief Creative Officer at JLR, said, “Our ultimate ambition is to build truly emotionally engaging experiences for our clients that, overtime, will build long-term high equity for our brands and long-term sustainability for JLR.” As of now, JLR has Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar as its brands.
(Edited by : Pradeep John)
First Published: Apr 19, 2023 6:31 PM IST
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