JLR increases spending to offer electric cars across board
Jaguar Land Rover is increasing investment by about a quarter in order to offer electrified versions of its entire model range. By 2025, the British brand plans to include hybrid and electric versions for every car, although the EV variant will depend on demand.
For the recent raise in spending, Bloomberg quotes from a presentation for investors according to which JLR will invest 13.5 million pound over the next three years, 26 per cent more than in previous years.
The increase in spending comes despite profitability and margins being below internal targets. JLR is owned by India’s Tata and so their push will be global.
By 2025, JLR aim to offer three versions of every model, including a hybrid and electric variant. Electric cars will depend on demand though, a spokesperson said, but all JLR production facilities will be retooled to accommodate for drives of all kinds.
Given that Jaguar has already been almost overwhelmed for demand of their I-Pace electric car, finding buyers for their EVs will not likely be a problem. CEO Ralf Speth went as far as looking to set up battery assembly plants close to home in order to lessen dependency on external battery suppliers (we reported). In the interview with Manager Magazin, Speth also raised fears that otherwise JLR will have to face “bottlenecks” when it comes to batteries, given that orders for the I-Pace electric car are already exceeding the initial allocation.
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