Jaguar has killed off the next generation of the XJ limousine, leaving the current XJ as the last … [+]
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Jaguar’s planned move to an battery-electric automaker has claimed its first victim: the British premium brand’s next flagship XJ limousine which was due to be launched this year.
Already in final pre-production testing, the Jaguar XJ has become a stillborn victim of Jaguar Land Rover’s new “Reimagine” strategy, even though the limousine was engineered and designed as a pure battery electric (EV) car.
With Jaguar shifting away from its traditions to become an EV-only brand by 2025, the XJ “will not form part of the lineup”, JLR CEO Thierry Bolloré admitted yesterday.
Jaguar was reluctant to comment on the future of the XJ EV limousine, though, and initially danced through loopholes to avoid mentioning it.
It began saying that it was “not discontinuing current products and does not plan to stop production of any present models early”, which neatly sidestepped the XJ, which was not yet in production.
Jaguar Land Rover CEO Thierry Bollore announced yesterday that the XJ would not be going ahead, … [+]
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Bolloré then confirmed that the Castle Bromwich factory in England, which was penned in as the XJ’s production plant, would be “repurposed” after its current production cars were phased out before 2025.
It only admitted the fate of the XJ, which was first seen testing on public roads two years ago, on further questioning.
“Following a thorough technology review against the exponential change in the automotive industry, we concluded that the planned XJ replacement does not fit with our vision for a reimaged Jaguar brand,” a Jaguar spokesperson said.
“We have made the tough decision that it will not form part of the line-up, as the brand looks to realize its unique potential.”
It’s almost certain the XJ name will be used instead on one of the new EV models coming off Jaguar’s new modular EV architecture.
JLR has a poor track record on emissions, setting aside US$118 million to cover fines for missing the 130.6 gram/km CO2 binding target set by the European Union.
It was forced into a mid-year stop-sale on the Ranger Rover Evoque P300e and the Land Rover Discovery Sport P300e plug-in hybrids (PHEV) – the two volume SUVs it was relying upon to lower its CO2 average – because of misleading emissions claims.
It cut increased their claimed emission figures from 32 grams/km for the Evoque and 36 grams for the Discovery Sport to 44 grams and 48 grams respectively, while slashing their pure EV range from 66km to just 43km.
It also recalled 44,000 cars in August last year due to excessive emissions.
The last car from the regime of the multi award-winning Jaguar design boss Ian Callum, the XJ would have become Jaguar’s second EV behind 2019’s I-Pace crossover.
The I-Pace, which won the World Car of the Year award in 2019, will remain Jaguar’s lone EV until the first arrival off its new stand-alone electric platform, in 2024.
Timing, as much as anything else, seems to have caused the premature downfall of the big limousine, with its usual decade-long production cycle meaning it would run relatively old EV technology alongside Jaguar’s new generation of EV products.
The I-Pace lifecycle, by comparison, would see it replaced somewhere around 2026 or 2027, allowing Jaguar the production and development flexibility to fill in an EV product range before its replacement arrives.
