Rumors of an electric Jaguar XJ have been swirling around since the announcement of the I-Pace. Putting an electric luxury sedan head-to-head against the industry leader, Tesla, just makes sense.
Jaguar Land Rover, parent company to both Jaguar and Land Rover, has been the forefront for electrification of legacy automakers. The Jaguar I-Pace was arguably the first Tesla competitor and sales are still rising. After success in the market and pressuring efficiency regulations, Jaguar Land Rover is looking to convert into an electric car manufacturer in the next few years. Jaguar has previously stated their intention of offering each model with an electrified version and we are now starting to see this transition begin.
Recently, Jaguar confused fans by stating that production of their flagship model, the Jaguar XJ, will end in July. According to AutoCar, the replacement will be a high-tech fully electric car. The new flagship model will be the ninth version of the Jaguar XJ and will make the switch from a four door model to a five.
Land Rover has also been working towards electrification themselves. Although we currently do not have a fully electric Land Rover, they did just start selling their premium SUV, the Range Rover, with a plug-in option. For almost a year now we have been hearing about Land Rovers intentions of bringing a fully electric model into fruition. This will not be an electrified version of an already existing car, but instead come as a brand new, stand-alone model. Internally labeled the Road Rover, the first electric Range Rover is scheduled to be announced some time before 2020.
Both the electric XJ and Road Rover are being developed alongside one another. Jaguar Land Rover is creating a whole new platform for these two and future electric vehicles. The Modular Longitudinal Architecture platform, or MLA, is being designed for use in everything from an ICE to a BEV. Unlike the Jaguar I-Pace, the upcoming electric vehicles from Jaguar Land Rover will have plug-in and gas options on top of the fully electric version. The MLA platform is expected to be used across all Jaguar and Land Rover models, eventually.
Full electric cars on the MLA platform are expected to have a 90.2 kWh battery with a 292-mile (470 km) range.
Plug-in hybrid cars on the MLA platform are expected to have a 13.1 kWh battery with an all-electric range of 31 mi (50 km).
While neither model has been publicly revealed, we expect both to enter in the luxury market. Both vehicles could possibly be released later this year at the Los Angeles Motor show. The Road Rover is expected to launch in 2021 following the XJ in 2020.
