Jaguar completely changed course under its new CEO Thierry Bolloré and it even abandoned the already quite advanced work on the new XJ electric sedan. Bolloré deemed the direction Jaguar was headed in wrong and he essentially wants the brand to start again in a more upmarket position.
Its first models, according to Autocar, will be a trio of electric SUVs/crossovers, the smallest of which will reportedly be a kind of Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo rival. The latter will reportedly come in two- and four-door configurations and start at £80,000-£90,000 ($96,800 – $108,900). There will, of course, be SVR versions and lots of options to drive the price up, including a choice of single- or dual-motor powertrains.
The flagship model will be a much larger SUV with ample rear legroom, designed to appeal to US and Chinese buyers’ appetites for spacious back seats with lots of luxury touches. This model will start at £120,000 ($145,200), but with special versions and options it should push close to the £200,000 ($242,100) mark, bringing it into Bentley territory.
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The CEO of Jaguar expects that with this new lineup of vehicles (on the market in 2025), that the manufacturer should sell some 50,000 units per year. Our first look at this new line of Jaguars will come in 2024 with the reveal of a close-to-production concept that previews Cross Turismo-rivaling model, and hopefully more details on the new 800 volt Panthera platform used in all the new Jags.
It’s reportedly being developed with Magna-Steyr, which builds the I-Pace (pictured) for Jaguar, although unlike the I-Pace, these new vehicles are expected to be built somewhere in the United Kingdom. One possible location would be the automaker’s Solihull plant that would be expanded and repurposed to build EVs.
Jaguar has not confirmed any of this officially, and according to the source article, one reason for this silence about the new line of EVs has to do with the pressure of re-launching such an iconic brand. However, once the new models are revealed and Jaguar takes up its new role as a maker of £100,000 vehicles, it will most likely completely renounce the current lineup, in a similar manner to how it shunned the Ford-derived X-Type as it was trying to improve its image in the mid-2000s.
