Jaguar Land Rover will invest 18 billion euros to electrify its ranges

The British manufacturer, part of the Tata Group, will invest 18 billion euros over the next three years in the development and launch of new electrified versions across all product series in its current range. Jaguar Land Rover will thus increase its investment volume by 26 percent, rising from the nearly 9.2 billion euros actually spent between March 2015 and March 2018 to nearly 15.425 billion euros it plans to invest in the 2018-2021 period.

The financial effort the group is going to make to electrify its model ranges carries even greater significance, given that it will take place even though “revenues did not grow as much as we planned” due to customer distrust when buying diesel models in the United States (the manufacturer’s main market).

The fall in sales volumes recorded for diesel vehicles, both in the American market and in the various European markets, has left the profit margins forecast in the accounts of the respective brands “well below” internal targets, which has even led to negative cash flows at the respective brands.

In 2017, 87% of Jaguar Land Rover registrations in Europe were diesel. Jaguar Land Rover is preparing to offer hybrid versions in its respective ranges from 2025, in addition to the usual petrol and diesel. The British brands have declined to offer only electric versions of their models until there is sufficient customer demand for them in the market. In any case, Jaguar Land Rover wants to reduce the importance that diesel engines have in its sales. In 2017, 87 percent of registrations of Jaguar Land Rover models in the British and European markets were fitted with a diesel engine under the bonnet, a certainly high level in view of the current fallout from the dieselgate scandal.

The gradual and growing reduction in diesel vehicle sales in the North American and European markets is forcing manufacturers to reduce their brands’ exposure to diesel. Jaguar Land Rover has stated that from 2020 all of its new vehicles in the market will come with an electrified version, whether it is a model fitted with a hybrid powertrain or one with an exclusively electric motor.

To this end, Jaguar Land Rover has been transforming its six production plants to adapt them to manufacturing electrified variants, hybrid or fully electric. Likewise, it is going to open a new software, information technology and engineering centre in Manchester, in the British Isles, where it will continue its advances in connected and autonomous car technology.