JLR steps up pace on EV future with new £15bn investment

Jaguar Land Rover is accelerating its work to go all-electric with a new £15bn investment over the next five years.

Halewood will become an all-electric production facility while a fully electric Range Rover is due in 2025

The company – newly rebranded as JLR – has revealed that its Halewood plant in the UK will become an all-electric production facility while its next-generation medium-size SUV architecture, Electrified Modular Architecture (EMA), will now be pure-electric, rather than also supporting hybrid models as planned.

Speaking to media, chief executive officer Adrian Mardell reaffirmed the business’s commitment to its Reimagine strategy, which will reposition the company as an electric-first, modern luxury carmaker by 2030.

He added: “This investment enables us to deliver to our modern luxury electric future, developing new skills, and reaffirming our commitment to be carbon net zero by 2039.”

Pre-orders for the all-electric Range Rover will open later this year, ahead of deliveries in 2025.

JLR also confirmed that the first of its next-generation medium-size modern luxury SUVs will be an all-electric model from the Range Rover family, launching in 2025 and built at Halewood in Merseyside.

And while the EMA platform will now be electric only, the company will keep the flexible modular longitudinal architecture (MLA) that the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport are built – retaining internal combustion engine (ICE), hybrid and battery electric vehicle (BEV) options to meet differing market needs.

JLR will also move to a House of Brands approach, built around the Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar names, to “become proud creators of the world’s most desirable modern luxury automotive brands for the most discerning clients”.

On the Jaguar side, three “reimagined modern luxury” electric models will launch, beginning with a four-door GT built in Solihull in the West Midlands. It will be the most powerful Jaguar yet, with a range up to 700km (430 miles) and expected to be priced from £100,000. It will be built on its own bespoke architecture, named JEA, and go on sale in selected markets in 2024, for client deliveries in 2025.

Professor Gerry McGovern, chief creative officer, said: “We have radically reimagined Jaguar as a modern luxury brand. The key to Jaguar’s transformation is that the designs convey that they are a copy of nothing.”

Alongside announcing that the Halewood plant will become an all-electric production facility, JLR also revealed its Engine Manufacturing Centre in Wolverhampton, which currently produces Ingenium internal combustion engines for its vehicles, will now shift to producing electric drive units and battery packs for JLR’s next generation vehicles. It will be renamed the Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre.

There was also positive news on the historic Castle Bromwich site; its stamping facilities will be used to provide body work for next-generation electric vehicles, while options for other parts of the site are still being explored.

Key JLR announcements:

Investment of £15bn over five years in JLR’s industrial footprint, vehicle programmes, autonomous, AI and digital technologies and people skills

Halewood plant in Merseyside, UK, to become an all-electric manufacturing facility

Engine Manufacturing Centre in Wolverhampton, UK, to be renamed Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre

Reimagine strategy affirmed, with new ‘House of Brands’ approach to accelerate delivery of modern luxury vision

Next-generation medium-size SUV architecture to be pure-electric

Pre-order books to open for first all-electric Range Rover later this year

Plans for three reimagined modern luxury electric Jaguars to be spearheaded by four-door GT built in Solihull, UK

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Natalie Middleton

Natalie has worked as a fleet journalist for over 20 years, previously as assistant editor on the former Company Car magazine before joining Fleet World in 2006. Prior to this, she worked on a range of B2B titles, including Insurance Age and Insurance Day.