Jaguar Land Rover has announced that, from 2020 onwards, every new car it makes will come in both an all-electric and hybrid version. This isn’t Jaguar Land Rover smashing the combustion engine to pieces in favour of greener alternatives but, by offering up options for greener engine options, the automaker hopes it can reach its goal of offering up a completely clean range of cars in time for the British government’s 2040 ban on petrol and diesel vehicles.
Jaguar Land Rover isn’t the first carmaker to make such plans, back in July Volvo said it would be bringing electric models to its entire range.
“We will introduce a portfolio of electrified products across our model range, embracing fully electric, plug-in hybrid and mild hybrid vehicles,” said Chief Executive Dr Ralf Speth. Every new Jaguar Land Rover model line will be electrified from 2020, giving our customers even more choice.”
Speth cites that one plus point of moving to electric cars is that it allows the company to grow its global workforce of 40,000 by 10,000. Last year alone the automaker built 550,000 of Britain’s 1.7 million cars but, due to a lack of government support and talent in the UK, it’s unlikely Britain will see a business boost from Jaguar Land Rover’s shift in direction.
Its first electric model, the Jaguar I-Pace, will be be built in Austria. This is in part due to concerns around exports from Britain being hit with customs delays and tariffs of up to 10% thanks to Brexit.
That said, Jaguar Land Rover has mentioned in the past that it would be interested in building an all-electric car manufacturing plant in the UK – similar to that of Nissan’s facility in Sunderland. It’s yet to make a concrete decision on the matter, so until that happens it’s unclear where the car manufacturer plans to construct the rest of its electric car range.
Jaguar Land Rover hasn’t made any indications as to how much the hybrid and electric options will cost on its cars – nor how its electric models could look or perform. The I-Pace has a range of 310 miles, placing it in the same category as Tesla’s cars and ahead of the likes of the Nissan Leaf.
It’s likely Jaguar Land Rover will make a push to help customers adopt these greener options as its petrol and diesel cars are some of the worst offenders in terms of emission tests. Average CO2 emissions from its cars come in at 164g per kilometre, well above the UK average of 121.4g. By 2021, Jaguar Land Rover needs to get that down to just 95g/km as outlined in the new government emissions rules.
Despite being owned by Indian firm Tata Motors, Jaguar Land Rover is Britain’s largest carmaker. Its decision to switch from making purely petrol and diesel cars to hybrid or electric sends a big signal to automakers around the world that it’s time to start cleaning up their acts.
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