Jaguar Land Rover – now known as JLR – is accelerating its electric car push, and its next-generation of mid-sized models will now be electric-only propositions.
These crossovers will be based on the upcoming Electrified Modular Architecture (EMA), which was previously touted as an electric-first platform that would also support internal combustion engines (ICE) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) functionality.
As part the updated Reimagine strategy unveiled overnight, JLR will invest £15 billion ($28 billion) over the next five years on new model development and production, with much of the money spent on electric vehicles.
Adrian Mardell, CEO since the start of 2023, told Autocar the automaker decided to make EMA electric-only in response to the faster-than-expected adoption of EVs.
He said the company currently plans to build “three vehicles, maybe four” on EMA.
It’s understood the confirmed vehicles are the next-generation versions of the entry-level Range Rover Evoque and the step-up Velar, as well as the new Discovery Sport, which will likely go without Land Rover branding.
The first EMA-based vehicles will go into production from late 2024, with the second-generation Velar thought to be first (electric) cab off the rank.
All three models will be built at the company’s Halewood factory, about 30 minutes outside of Liverpool, which will be converted to produce electric cars only.
Eventually JLR EVs will source their batteries from a new a “gigafactory” being built by parent Tata in Europe, with external suppliers used until that plant comes online.
Although the company’s affordable mid-size crossovers will eventually become all-electric, JLR will keep the Modular Longitudinal Architecture (MLA) that underpins the latest Range Rover and Range Rover Sport in production for the foreseeable future.
MLA supports internal combustion engines, hybrids, and electric drivetrains, and will allow the automaker to “meet the needs of different markets around the world, that are moving at different speeds towards carbon net zero targets”.
While EMA-based EVs will eventually become the automaker’s volume-selling models, JLR will begin taking orders later this year for a battery electric version of its range-topping Range Rover.
While Europe is moving to practically ban the sale of new cars with internal combustion engines by 2035, and the US is moving towards stricter emissions standards that would heavily favour the broad adoption of EVs, other parts of the world, including most of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, have to follow suit.
As we’ve reported elsewhere, the company’s also announced it will, effectively, replace the Land Rover marque with the Range Rover, Discovery, and Defender brands.
The company will also launch a new all-electric Jaguar range in 2025, starting with four-door GT based on the separate JEA platform.
MORE: Everything Range Rover EvoqueMORE: Everything Range Rover VelarMORE: Everything Land Rover Discovery Sport
