Jaguar Is Reportedly Considering Going Fully Electric across Its Entire Lineup

CarandDriver | Joseph Capparella | 10/12/2018

Jaguar could drop all of its gasoline-powered models and become a fully electric luxury brand in the near future, if a report from the U.K.’s Autocar is to be believed. Jaguar has already stated publicly that all new models it launches starting in 2020 will offer some sort of hybrid powertrain, but a move to sell exclusively battery-electric vehicles—if it comes to pass—would be far more drastic.

The speculation is that the new Jaguar I-Pace, which is a pure-electric crossover, is just the first step in a master plan to revamp the Jaguar lineup completely. According to Autocar, the next fully electric Jag would be the redesigned XJ flagship luxury sedan, which is due to arrive soon. Turning the XJ into an EV could revitalize interest in what is currently a slow-selling model and give Jaguar a competitor in the growing electric luxury-sedan segment to do battle against the Tesla Model S and the upcoming Porsche Taycan.

Next up would reportedly be a second electric crossover, slightly larger than the I-Pace, that would replace the current Jaguar XE and XF sedans once they reach the end of their life cycle, possibly around 2023. Then a second-generation I-Pace would arrive, and the current E-Pace and F-Pace crossovers would be discontinued. The F-type sports car could also be phased out and replaced by an electric sports car. By 2026, Jaguar’s lineup would be nearly fully electric save for the upcoming three-row J-Pace crossover, which could survive as the last gasoline-powered model well into the 2020s.

While this might sound like a dramatic shift for the British luxury automaker, the reasoning behind such a move isn’t so far-fetched. Jaguar has already done much of the engineering legwork for the I-Pace, and many components from that car such as electric motors, platforms, and battery packs could be used in a variety of models. Establishing a fully electric lineup this early in the game would also give Jag a jump on German luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz and Audi, both of which are just now joining the EV fold with their first mass-production battery-powered models. From a regulations perspective, too, creating several fully electric Jaguars would do good things for Jaguar Land Rover’s corporate average fuel-economy numbers , allowing the Land Rover SUV brand a bit more leeway with its thirstier gas-powered vehicles.

Trademarks that Jaguar registered earlier this year may even give us an idea of what some of these future electric models could be called. Monikers such as C-Pace, J-type, and X-type are in play and could refer to any number of these potential battery-powered Jags.

When we reached out to Jaguar for comment on the possibility of this cosmic shift, a representative said she could not comment on product or brand “speculation.”