Jaguar Prepares for Bold EV Gamble, New EV Platform To Play Key Role

Jaguar is preparing to accelerate its push into the EV segment as British brand confirms that $125k Electric GT will spearhead the debut of  new EV-dedicated architecture and three new electric vehicles.

When Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) revealed that they were embarking on an ambitious and expensive rebranding campaign last year, the firm made it clear that it was treating this as an all-or-nothing play. The program saw the company not only shorten its name to JLR, but also split Land Rover’s models into individual brands. One other item that flew below the radar up until now is the full electrification of Jaguar which will also simultaneously push the brand upmarket as JLR attempts to compete with rivals like Bentley and Porsche.

A new report suggests that Jaguar will start its EV revolution with a stylish new GT that promises to set the standard for how the company will carry its ambitions moving forward.

 

Raising The Bar on Price and Luxury

Jaguar has had its fair share of ups and downs over the years but this latest twist will see Jaguar ditch its current marketing strategy for a setup that will revolve around the Jaguar Electrified Platform (JEP) which will be a leap forward over the half-hearted and slow-selling I-Pace that the company has now. The “JEP” platform will underpin three new EVs with Jaguar reps confirming in an interview with Automotive News that the trio will help make Jaguar models feel unique again.

This uniqueness has always helped the brand have a distinct character when compared to other luxury car brands. However, this tendency to go against the established order in the luxury car market has also contributed to the brand having lower sales numbers and a reputation for poor reliability. The new platform is aiming to shake that monkey off Jag’s back, and rumors have suggested that these models will benefit from some of the lessons that the company learned on the I-Pace.

Of course, this higher degree of engineering will come with a noticeably beefier price tag. Jaguar is ditching its old pricing plan and trim ladders in the future and will instead focus on intentionally appealing to a higher clientele with the new GT reported to have a base price of $125,000.

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Not The First Time

While Jaguar’s plans to go fully into EVs is a milestone moment for the brand, this is not the first time that the brand has put a renewed focus on targeting premium buyers. When Ford brought Jaguar under its wing in the 1990s, the brand attempted to revamp its image and embarked on a similar effort. No EVs were involved, but the brand chose to focus on providing buyers with models like the XK8, X-Type, and even culminated in the creation of a supercar with the XJ220. While the aforementioned XJ220 turned out to be a controversial blunder for Jaguar, the broader mission was a success and it helped the British brand roll through the decade before it was sold to Tata in the mid 2000s.

It will be interesting to see if Jaguar’s EV aspirations will help produce long-term fruit, but the stakes are high and Jaguar knows it needs all the pieces to fall into place to help engineer a comeback. The company says that the GT model will make its debut at a future event but Jaguar didn’t say exactly where, with the brand only confirming that it will be in a key market.

Will dealerships embrace this newfound identity?

Jaguar says that EVs will become a core part of its brand mission, but while the brand is confident that its products and marketing materials will be able to help deliver the supposed benefits of EVs to consumers, there are still several problems that Jaguar needs to address before its EV revolution can truly gain steam. One of these problems is a dealer base that’s not only sparsely dispersed in many of its key markets but is also hesitant to jump into the EV wars. Part of this hesitance is understandable due to the Jaguar I-Pace. The I-Pace was supposed to be Jaguar’s first production EV when it appeared several years ago, but unfortunately for dealerships, it has proven to be a disappointment in terms of sales.

Dealer reps in Metro Detroit that we spoke with prior to the publication of this story were more than eager to vent their frustrations about the I-Pace and confirmed that the EV is a strictly special order-only vehicle, and as a result, inventory managers tend to avoid having too many of them on the lot at once. That’s evident when you look at dealer inventories with the three main dealerships in Metro Detroit: Jaguar of Lakeside, Jaguar Troy, and Jaguar of Novi only having a combined total of 5 I-Paces currently in stock. That’s in stark contrast to traditional models like the F-Pace SUV which are more popular and have a higher presence in dealer inventories as a result.