Jaguar XE, XF, F-Type, E-Pace and I-Pace

The F-Pace is the only surviving model.

It has been more than three years since Jaguar Land Rover unveiled its “Reimagine” strategy for electrification. The most controversial point of the plan was that Jaguar will only offer electric cars by 2025. This brings us to a new announcement from a JLR spokesperson in an interview with Automotive News EuropeSix cars are to be decommissioned this year.

Production of the XE, XF sedan, XF estate, F-Type, E-Pace and I-Pace models will cease. Jaguar had originally announced that the electric SUV would continue in parallel with the new wave of electric vehicles. However, the company changed its mind and announced last year that the I-Pace would also be discontinued along with the petrol cars.

Why the rush? Jaguar CEO Adrian Mardell told investors that these six models barely make the company any money and generate “almost no profitability.” He even went so far as to call them “inferior” products. The executives were brutally honest with investors, saying that “none of these vehicles made any money.” So the final F-Type has already been built.

By discontinuing no less than six models, Jaguar’s lineup will be reduced to just one vehicle. Only the F-Pace remains, but its days are numbered too, given the impending all-electric strategy. A concept car will be launched later this year and is expected to give a taste of the electric car era. The Gran Tourer will cost over £100,000 (about $130,000 at the current exchange rate). A large SUV is also reportedly in the works.

JLR is pushing Jaguar upmarket by focusing on lower-volume, higher-profit cars to compete with Bentley. But the biggest difference between the two British automakers is that the VW Group brand will continue to sell combustion-engine cars over the next decade. The original plan was to go all-electric by 2030, but that target was recently pushed back by three years.

Tata Motors-owned JLR wants the revamped Jaguar brand to sell fewer than 50,000 cars a year. All future models will be based on the long-wheelbase JEA electric vehicle platform, which was developed specifically for the struggling brand. The new electric vehicles are expected to feature rear-wheel steering, all-wheel drive and fast-charging capability.

A fresh design language with a focus on minimalism should ensure that the new models hardly resemble the previous ICE cars. According to Autocar According to The 40th Anniversary magazine, the iconic leaping cat emblem will disappear to make way for the Jaguar name to be spelled out, as so many other car manufacturers do today.

Jaguar is taking a big risk with its all-in electric car strategy, while others are rethinking that strategy. In addition to phasing out combustion engines, the struggling brand is knowingly risking selling fewer cars by significantly increasing prices while repositioning itself as a Bentley competitor.

Time will tell whether the strategy will work in light of the radical changes Jaguar is undergoing as it enters an increasingly competitive high-end electric vehicle segment.

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