Jaguar to become all-EV brand from 2025

Jaguar will be transformed into a 100 per cent electric vehicle (EV) brand by 2025 as part of a radical restructuring plan aimed at turning around the ailing British car-maker.

Announced overnight by Jaguar Land Rover's new CEO, Thierry Bollore, the decision to reposition Jaguar as a Tesla rival, rather than a mainstream luxury brand to battle Audi or BMW, is part of a bigger strategy to ensure JLR is net carbon neutral by 2039.

Coinciding with the decision to switch Jag to a zero-emissions car-maker, JLR has developed an all-new Electric Modular Architecture (EMA) created specifically for EVs.

Jaguar will share not only its new platform but its new EV powertrain technology with Land Rover, and the rumoured dual-motor Range Rover due in 2024 will share its motors, control modules and power-dense batteries with a large Jaguar.

As part of the restructuring, Bollore said JLR would no longer chase sales, with a preference for "quality over volume" and the ultimate aim of becoming one of the "most profitable luxury manufacturers in the world".

The ex-Renault boss is also keen for Jaguar to no longer compete with Land Rover by offering almost identical models; witness the Jaguar E-PACE and Land Rover Discovery Sport.

In the future, Land Rover will remain a true off-road brand but will push further upmarket, with pricing out of a Jaguar buyer's reach.

“Jaguar and Land Rover will have two clear unique personalities, rooted in their rich history to give two distinct choices for customers,” said Bollore.

Jaguar has been a constant bugbear for parent company Tata and its sales results in 2020 make for sobering reading.

Last year the premium British brand could only shift 102,494 vehicles – an astonishing 36.5 per cent decline over 2019. Both the global pandemic and Brexit played a significant role in the car-maker's decline but over the same period Land Rover sold a far more impressive 323,480 vehicles – just 18.3 per cent down year-on-year.

Both a near non-existent presence in China and a reliance on out-of-fashion sedans and diesels were both contributing factors.

By swapping petrol and diesel power for all-electric tech, it's thought that Jaguar will focus on the high-end premium EV market, with JLR hoping to target vehicles like the Tesla Model S.

Bollore refused to comment on what shape the new Jaguars would take, other than announcing he had axed the XJ limo, but it's thought designers within the British car-maker will pitch radical new designs that maximise the capabilities of the EMA platform.

The French CEO also declared himself a huge fan of the current Jaguar I-PACE and suggested there was still plenty of potential in the battery-powered crossover.

With a clean-sheet restart, it's thought Jaguar will try and avoid rolling out big SUVs to avoid stealing Land Rover's lunch.

That said, a range of electric sports cars also seems unlikely due to the dwindling market share they command, although Bollore refused to explicitly rule out a battery-powered F-TYPE replacement when asked, saying that JLR wase "looking at it carefully".

As part of the restructuring, JLR says it has invested £2.5 billion ($A4.7b) annually in electrification technology and connected services.