Jaguar not concerned with chasing Tesla

When Jaguar pulled the virtual and physical covers off its fandangled new I-PACE electric SUV concept this week, a similar sentiment washed over most people attending the Los Angeles reveal: “watch out Tesla”.

The new I-PACE might share many of the same philosophies and physical traits as Tesla’s incoming Model X SUV, but Jaguar insists it is not concerned with rivalling the electric car superpower, or for that matter any other marque exploring opportunities in the EV space.

According to vehicle line director Ian Hoban, the I-Pace is a Jaguar first and foremost.

“I go to great pains to point out that this isn’t just about being an EV; it’s about being a Jaguar. It’s got to do everything a Jaguar’s going to do,” Hoban told journalists at the car’s reveal, which included a big-tech, big-money display in California on Monday.

“Did we set out to compete with anyone in particular? No, I don’t think we need to. We know what a Jaguar needs to be and we look at the market and say that’s where we want to position the car.”

With Mercedes-Benz and Audi each setting out to offer production EV SUV models to market by 2018, Jaguar stakeholders couldn’t have timed their run better in revealing the I-PACE Concept. The new model will be shown publicly at this week’s LA motor show before going on sale globally from the second half of 2018.

“Clearly the SUV segment is growing significantly. We’ve been very quietly investigating the different low emissions technology and in fact now is the time to do an SUV,” Hoban said.

Jaguar took comfort in the fact that it technically beat conventional luxury rivals in unveiling the I-PACE concept, though Hoban argued the manufacturer would never have compromised the car’s design or engineering in a bid to be first.

“I would say yes [it was important to be one of the first], but not at all costs,” he said.

“A lot of our more conventional competition are doing a lot of work in this space and we’re really excited – we think this car in this space will be a big first.

“It’s where Jaguar needs to be.”

Jaguar’s chief designer Ian Callum took exception to suggestions the I-PACE borrowed cues from the Model X, insisting that ”I try to not to get influenced by anything. I would tend to suggest that Tesla is more influenced by Jaguar”.

Asked why customers would be drawn to the I-PACE instead of a Tesla, Hoban said: “just look at it”.

“It’s a Jaguar, it’s got all the attributes a Jaguar would have: performance, refinement, comfort, luxury, responsiveness and handling – we’re confident,” he added.

Jaguar’s reluctance to rival Tesla doesn’t mean it won’t borrow some of the electric car maker’s sales and technology ideas.

Examples cited this week included over-the-air upgrades, which enable owners to update their vehicle’s software like they would their smart phone.

“I think the car lends itself to that, and we’ve got a lot of ideas,” Hoban said.

“You would have seen our In-Control Apps which gives a lot of interaction between the car and the device. And that’s just the start of it. There’s some really cool things that Tesla is doing and I think that would be entirely appropriate to a car like this.”

Jaguar is also weighing up options in terms of electric charging infrastructure. For the intermediate term, the manufacturer says it will channel its energy into household charging systems.

“There’s a lot of options,” Hoban said. “My personal view is that, in the markets that will take a greater share of the car to start with, I think it will be a lot about wall boxes.

Most people will have their own 7 kWh wall box that will enable them to do a full charge overnight

“In terms of public charging infrastructure, the fastest that we’re seeing is 50kWh DC and obviously that will continue to develop. What we’ve done is future-proofed this car. We already know of higher power charging systems and you won’t have to change this car to take advantage of those systems.”