Jaguar To Go Fully Electric By 2025

Jaguar Land Rover will go fully electric by 2025, the British company said Tuesday as part of plans to ditch combustion engines under new chief executive Thierry Bollore.

JLR, owned by Tata Motors Ltd. of India, said its Land Rover brand will roll out six pure battery-powered vehicle models over the next five years with the first one launching in 2024.

The company said it would invest around 2.5 billion pounds ($3.5 billion) a year into the electrification program and related technologies and keep all three of its UK assembly lines open.

Bollore said the company had the technology and "we know how to do it." Bollore was the former Renault SA chief executive and joined Jaguar in September.

It is part of a broader plan that the new Jaguar boss calls "reimagine," according to Top Gear's Vijay Pattni - a plan that aims to position the UK-based carmaker as a net zero carbon company by 2039.

JLR, which has a 30,000-workforce in the UK, will also reduce and "rationalize" its management in Europe. The company didn't provide details on the size of planned employment.

Jaguar's only fully electric car to date is the I-Pace sport utility vehicle.

Bollore's shift is expected to be difficult for the car manufacturer which was struggling with Brexit, tighter emissions regulations and a drop in exports to China even before the coronavirus crisis broke out.