Jaguar looking for partner to create EV platform

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) CEO Thierry Bollore has confirmed that Jaguar is seeking out partners to help it develop its next-generation pure-electric platform.

With last month's shock announcement that Jaguar would transition to an EV-only brand by 2025, it was understood the British car-maker already had a dedicated pure-electric architecture in development.

But in a call on Friday with investors, JLR's boss revealed that was not the case.

Speaking to Jaguar stakeholders, Bollore said he had already ruled out developing pure-electric architecture in-house over the huge costs involved that would not be recouped by low volumes.

Despite no electric platform, Bollore said he was confident of finding a development partner soon, with the former Renault boss saying "naturally there is a massive appetite to work with us".

As well as co-developing an all-new architecture, the JLR CEO told investors that the brand is also in discussion "with a selection of actors" about using a pre-existing EV platform.

If the latter path is chosen, Bollore said that an off-the-shelf solution must be flexible enough to "respect the proportion of the designs" of future Jags.

Echoing the sentiment that the styling of future Jaguar models should not be compromised by what lies beneath, Jaguar's design director Gerry McGovern said: "Great design begins with volume of proportions and clearly Jaguars will have quite significant different volumes of proportion compared to Land Rovers.

“Therefore, we need to look for opportunities out there in terms of architectures that we could utilise or refine to give the stunning jaw-dropping Jaguars I’m talking about.”

No car-makers were named, but it's believed Volkswagen could be at the top of Jaguar's wish list as it has already announced it is keen to share its MEB platform, with a deal already sewn up to share it with Ford.

A similar deal with Audi and Porsche could grant Jaguar access to the same J1 platform that underpins the latest Porsche Taycan.

If talks break down with other partners over co-creating a platform, or buying one, Bollore said that he hadn't ruled out still developing its own architecture in-house.

“It may be that we develop platform internally, but it has to be design-led,” he said. “There is no point doing what we are doing with Jaguar unless these products are drop-dead gorgeous.”

The news that Jaguar has no architecture in its vaults just four years away from its pure-electric relaunch adds yet more fuel to fears that the British brand is pinning its revival on a future range that looks devoid of new models.

Investors were also told Jaguar would be moving upmarket, with plans to "modernise and reimagine Jaguar" to appeal to "target a wealthier, younger, urban, creatively-minded group".

Bollore has already announced that JLR would target profit over volume and that message was re-emphasised to investors, with a declaration that in future Jaguar would be viewed as a more exclusive, luxury brand.

Courting controversy, as part of his 'Reimagine' plan, Bollore has axed at least two models late in their development – the flagship pure-electric Jaguar XJ and the closely-related Jaguar J-PACE full-size SUV.