Jaguar Land Rover, the emblematic British motoring brand of luxury vehicles currently owned by Indian’s Tata Motors (and in turn conglomerate holding Tata Group), is to go all electric within just four years. The move will involve a monumental shift in operations, as well as long-term strategy, with the entire current Jaguar range, minus the electric I-Pace model, scrapped.
The move has been billed as Jaguar transforming into “the Tesla of the West Midlands”, and will involve the closing of the automaker’s Castle Bromwich plant in the greater Birmingham region. The site will be kept on as a “non-production facility”. However, Unite, the powerful union for car makers, has stated it will support the company’s pivot on the condition it doesn’t involve any forced redundancies.
The new strategy, or “complete renaissance”, of the company is being driven by Jaguar Land Rover’s Indian owners Tata Motors, who want the brand to be all-electric by 2025. Production of the new range of EVs will move to Solihull, where Range Rover SUVs are currently assembled. Production of the Land Rover Discovery and Defender models is to be moved to the Czech Republic.
The Land Rover and Range Rover brands will also undergo a move to electric, albeit at a slower pace. The plan is for all diesel-engine models to have been phased out by 2026 and all internal combustion engines by 2036. However, the first all-electric Land Rover model is planned for a 2024 launch. Research is also going into the possibility of heavier Range Rover 4x4s being powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
Despite Unite’s stance on no forced redundancies, Jaguar Land Rover’s transformation is likely to see a further whitling down of the company’s 30,000 British workforce in one form or another. The company’s announcement included a statement on plans to “dramatically reduce layers of management”.
Another change that will be implemented during the restructuring will be for Jaguar’s ‘central location’ to move to in Warwickshire-based Gaydon design and development facility. That leaves doubts as to the future role of the company’s current HQ at Whitley, Coventry.
The massive operation such a dramatic pivot entails is being led by former Renault boss Thierry Bolloré, who took over as chief executive last autumn. He commented that it was “time to reimagine the business as two distinct, unique brands”.
However, while Californian electric car maker Tesla’s strategy is to capture the mass-market with its vehicles, by pricing them in a similar range to the average mid-market traditional car, Jaguar plans to target the luxury segment. It sees itself as competing with brands such as Bentley and Rolls-Royce, rather than ‘premium’ brands like Germany’s BMW and Audi.
The new strategy will prioritise “profit over volume” and see a new electric range of fewer models.