Jaguar is destined to become a niche all-electric premium brand, but its first all-new model will only arrive in Mzansi in 2026. Will the few local enthusiasts who appreciate the allure of “The Leaper” be ready to embrace the brand’s EV future?
In 2021, Jaguar announced its intention to be an all-electric (EV) brand by 2025. With more than half of 2024 now in our rear-view mirror, that countdown towards the company’s rebirth has started in earnest.
For the company – and its customers – built on a storied history of large-capacity, octane-burning, coaches (not to mention the 4th-most Le Mans wins, a forgettable spell in F1 and the odd Bond movie appearance), the Jaguar brand’s so-called Reimagine EV strategy is a brave – and uneasy – prospect.
On the plus side, no one will miss the current confusing similarly-sounding model codes (all the -Paces). More dramatically – and underscoring the company’s clean break with its past – industry whispers also point to the leaping cat logo (“The Leaper”) being abandoned at the proverbial automotive SPCA.
The implementation of the Jaguar EV plan comes amidst a plateauing consumer appetite for EV models. With just 1 in 5 cars sold worldwide in 2023 being battery-electric, an increasing number of automotive marques are putting the brakes on previously announced all-EV product timelines, with Ford, Hyundai, General Motors and others citing hybrids as an increasingly prolonged stopgap before full electrification.
See also: Jaguar I-Pace (2021) Review
Among Jaguar’s more direct rivals, Mercedes-Benz has reversed its plans to be all-electric by 2030, while Aston Martin has benched its EV SUV. And crucially, although EV sales are proportionally increasing following internal combustion sales peaking in 2017 – demand is stubbornly stuck in a few key markets.
Of all EVs globally sold in 2023, 60% were in China, 25% in Europe and 10% in the United States.
Segment angst and nostalgia aside, other immediate medium- and long-term challenges lie ahead for Jaguar. For a start, production of all internal combustion (ICE) models – the E-Pace and F-Pace SUVs, F-Type sportscar and XF sedan – ended in June; with the I-Pace EV being put to pasture by year’s end.
See also: Jaguar F-Pace (2021) Review
The debutant in the Coventry-based marque’s upcoming, more upmarket range of 3 all-new models (yes, it appears that the Jaguar EV strategy is to rival Bentley!) is a Porsche Taycan/Audi e-tron GT-aping 4-door grand tourer alleged to be Coventry’s most muscular ever, sporting a claimed 700 km range.
Its 2 siblings – a large (imagine Bentayga-grade) SUV and a limousine (think XJ-that-is-not-an-XJ) will share its Jaguar Electric Architecture platform and not that of the outgoing I-Pace. All 3 of the models will be AWD and, when using the appropriate hardware, rapidly charge up to 80% in around 13 minutes.
It’s a clear move towards a more focused line-up, forgoing participation in traditional segments in exchange for targeting more profitable niches, though inevitably at the risk of reduced volumes.
In 2019, Cars.co.za’s Ash Oldfield won the SUV class of the Simola Hillclimb in an F-Pace SVR
However, as a consequence of the existing manufacturing plants being re-tooled for EVs in the wake of ICE production ending, the Jaguar EV GT is only set to be launched abroad next year and in SA in 2026.
That means that worldwide, dealers will have to tread water with run-out ICE stock at least until then. To this end, Jaguar in South Africa recently took delivery of a pair of F-Type ZP Edition coupes – from a batch of 150 global examples. Read more: Just 2 units of Jaguar F-Type ZP Edition for SA
The ZP is set to be the last-ever ICE Jaguar sportscar, painted in special 1960s E-Type heritage colours and dressed in some minor cosmetic trinketry; though is mechanically identical to non-limited edition R75 versions, which are powered by a 423 kW/700 Nm supercharged 5.0-litre V8 with all-wheel drive.
The 11-year-old Jaguar F-Type has been hailed as one of the most attractive cars of the millennium, though was never the threat to the Porsche 911 on the sales chart or the racetrack that Jaguar had imagined it would be. As the next Porsche Cayman will be all-electric, could Jaguar at some point in the future once again risk trying its hand at a similarly-powered competitor?
Watch Ciro De Siena’s video review of the Jaguar F-Type R Coupe
For some fringe car brands based in South Africa that are mandated to tow their mother companies’ “EV-only from [insert date here]” party line, our near-zero sales of electric vehicles are surely set to be a death knell in the years to come.
Jaguar protected by Land- and Range Rover stable
In the JLR group, Jaguars, Land Rovers and Range Rovers are sold out of the same dealerships globally, and this will continue to be the case under the Reimagine strategy, which is precisely why Jaguar can pursue a low-volume product strategy in the future, safe in the knowledge of cross-group subsidies.
Certainly, a car brand like Volvo, which aims to also be all-electric by 2030 – that sells only a handful of EVs in South Africa each month and almost all at near seven-digit prices, with no assistance to call upon from sister brands, may not be as fortunate…
Jaguar is ready for an EV future, but are consumers?
To mangle a movie metaphor, Jaguar’s dilemma is this: the world deserves to have more EVs on the road, but as the revisionary adoptions around ICE of other OEMs have shown of late, it also doesn’t need them quite as badly as had been initially thought.
On the other hand, neither dying a hero nor living long enough to become the villain would have been feasible options. So, for the Coventry-based feisty feline, its metamorphosis was mandatory: sometimes the best option comes from knowing there was never a choice to be made at all.
