JAGUAR I-PACE: AN EV PIONEER DIES WITH A WHIMPER
Production of the model will come to an end in December 2024.
Jaguar Land Rover announced this month that its luxury Jaguar brand will eliminate five out of six models, including the all-electric Jaguar I-Pace.
According to the company's CEO Adrian Mardell (via Automotive News Europe), production of the Jaguar XE, XF, and F-type ended in May, while production of the E-Pace and I-Pace at Magna Steyr, a contract manufacturer in Graz, Austria, will stop in December. This means that for a while, the brand will be left with a single midsize SUV model, the F-Pace.
The reason behind the radical shift is Jaguar's upcoming transition to an all-electric luxury brand with three all-new models based on the Jaguar Electrified Architecture (JEA) platform. The current models also have "close to zero profitability."
The Jaguar I-Pace, launched in 2018, wasn't selling too well, although the recent two quarters brought a slight rebound. In Q2, sales amounted to 1,923; in the first half of the year, it was 3,894 units globally, or almost 12% of Jaguar's total volume.
The volume was relatively low, even for a luxury brand standard. The lack of any significant upgrades to the specs—including battery and range—and fierce competition in the crossover/SUV segment, including with the Tesla Model Y, caused a gradual fade for the Jaguar I-Pace.
Over the course of more than six years, Jaguar sold globally 66,750 I-Pace EVs. By the end of 2024, the volume might reach 70,000 and it will be about it.
The company will continue to sell all the retired models while supplies last and will continue to service the cars, including combustion engine ones in the upcoming EV era.
The news about the end of the Jaguar E-Pace and I-Pace is another blow for Magna Steyr, which previously lost production of Fisker Ocean. Automotive News Europe also noted that the contract manufacturer (part of Canada’s Magna International) hoped to produce an all-electric Ineos Fusilier model, but this was delayed. Production of the BMW 5-series ended in 2023, and now Magna Steyr makes only a few cars: the Mercedes G-Class, BMW Z4, and Toyota Supra.
Jaguar Land Rover electrification
Meanwhile, Jaguar Land Rover prepares to introduce six new all-electric models in the next three years—three Jaguars and three Land Rovers.
The first will be an EV version of the Land Rover Range Rover next year. The first new electric Jaguar will also be coming in 2025. It will be a four-door GT produced in Solihull, England.
See also
2024-07-18T18:25:08Z dg43tfdfdgfd