Jaguar evolution into all-electric brand on track; new model launches slated in 2025: Chandrasekaran

PTI, Jun 11, 2023, 11:28 AM IST

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The transformation of Jaguar into an all-electric luxury brand is on track with first new vehicles to be launched in 2025, according to Jaguar Land Rover Chairman N Chandrasekaran.

Addressing shareholders in the company’s Annual Report for 2022-23, he noted that the British automaker is set to transform into a modern luxury vehicle business.

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Motors since 2008.

Chandrasekaran noted that the brand faced a difficult business environment last fiscal with several headwinds like shortage of electronic components.

The British brand had to contend with the shortage of semiconductors and challenges in energy supplies in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine, leading to a battle against inflationary pressures, Chandrasekaran said.

”In this context, I am pleased that the company is progressing well in its transformation journey and is set to become a modern luxury vehicle business, with sustainability at its heart,” he informed the shareholders.

Chandrasekaran noted that the company’s efforts to address the supply chain challenges have started to yield results, enabling it to increase the production of the new Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, and Defender vehicles.

”I am also pleased to see Jaguar Land Rover’s collaboration and active partnerships enabling it to leverage synergies across the Tata Group of companies,” he noted.

JLR Interim CEO Adrian Mardell said that in the coming years, the brand will launch pure-electric versions of all Range Rover, Defender and Discovery collections.

”This starts with the pure-electric Range Rover, for which we will start taking pre-orders later this year,” he added.

Meanwhile, the first of the three new Jaguar designs will be a 4-door GT with a range of up to 700 km (430 miles), Mardell said.

More details of the new Jaguar designs will be released later this year, before going on sale in selected markets in 2024, for client deliveries in 2025, he added.

”As we prepare for our electric-first future, we are taking steps to ensure our people have the skills vital to electrification, digital and autonomous cars. To this end, we launched our future skills programme in September 2022, to train 29,000 of our workforce for our modern luxury, electric future,” Mardell said.

He noted that the company has maintained momentum under the extraordinary global pressures of semiconductor constraints, inflation, and geopolitical instability, alongside ongoing effects of Covid-19.